Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 5:1
Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment [is] toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
1. O priests ] Hosea addresses the priests of the high places in N. Israel.
O house of the king ] i.e. the king and his courtiers, whether of the royal family or not.
judgment is toward you ] Rather, the judgment is for you.
a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor ] Tabor is the well-known mountain of the name in Galilee (see Jdg 4:6), and may be taken as the representative of the region on the west of the Jordan (as Psa 89:12); Mizpah (a common name = place of watch) is most probably Mizpah in Gilead (Jdg 10:17; Jdg 11:11; Jdg 11:29), also called Ramoth-Gilead (Jos 20:8; Jos 21:36; 2Ki 9:1; 2Ki 9:4; 2Ki 9:14), and consecrated by Jacob (Gen 31:45-54). Probably these places (comp. next note) are mentioned because the idolatrous worship was most dangerously seductive there. The worshippers were like the deluded birds who sought shelter in the woods and ravines (comp. Gen 26:20; Psa 11:1).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 7. A personal arraignment of the priesthood (accused less directly in chap. 4) and of the court, who, instead of warning the people, have led them into the snare of sin. So entangled are they in it that they cannot repent, and Judah too has fallen. They may seek to propitiate Jehovah by sacrifices, but in vain: the judgment is close at hand.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hear ye this, O ye priests – God, with the solemn threefold summons, arraigns anew all classes in Israel before Him, not now to repentance but to judgment. Neither the religious privileges of the priests, nor the multitude of the people, nor the civil dignity of the king, should exempt any from Gods judgment. The priests are, probably, the true but corrupted priests of God, who had fallen away to the idolatries with which they were surrounded, and, by their apostasy, had strengthened them. The king, here first mentioned by Hosea, was probably the unhappy Zechariah, a weak, pliant, self-indulgent, drunken scoffer , who, after eleven years of anarchy, succeeded his father, only to be murdered.
For judgment is toward you – Literally, the judgment. The kings and the priests had hitherto been the judges; now they were summoned before Him, who is the Judge of judges, and the King of kings. To teach the law was part of the priests office; to enforce it, belonged to the king. The guilt of both was enhanced, in that they, being so entrusted with it, had corrupted it. They had the greatest sin, as being the seducers of the people, and therefore have the severest sentence. The prophet, dropping for the time the mention of the people, pronounces the judgment on the seducers.
Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah – Mizpah, the scene of the solemn covenant of Jacob with Laban, and of his signal protection by God, lay in the mountainous part of Gilead on the East of Jordan. Tabor was the well-known Mountain of the Transfiguration, which rises out of the midst of the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, one thousand feet high, in the form of a sugar-loaf. Of Mount Tabor it is related by Jerome, that birds were still snared upon it. But something more seems intended than the mere likeness of birds, taken in the snare of a fowler. This was to be seen everywhere; and so, had this been all, there hath no ground to mention these two historical spots. The prophets has selected places on both sides of Jordan, which were probably centers of corruption, or special scenes of wickedness. Mizpah, being a sacred place in the history of the patriarch Jacob Gen. 31:23-49, was probably, like Gilgal and other sacred places, desecrated by idolatry. Tabor was the scene of Gods deliverance of Israel by Barak Judg. 4. There, by encouraging idolatries, they became hunters, not pastors, of souls Eze 13:18, Eze 13:20. There is an old Jewish tradition , that lyers-in-wait were set in these two places, to intercept and murder those Israelites, who would go up to worship at Jerusalem. And this tradition gains countenance from the mention of slaughter in the next verse.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 5:1
Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you.
God in ways of judgment
Here is a summons to all sorts of judgment. Three classes are named, priests, people, house of the king. All sorts are cited to judgment, for corruption was gone over all.
1. When God comes in ways of judgment, He expects we should seriously incline our minds to what He is doing. We should not only hear, but hearken, and give ear. We are bound to hearken and to give ear to Gods commanding word; but if we refuse it, He will have us to hear and give ear to His threatening word; and if that be refused, He will force us to hear and give ear to His condemning word.
2. Generality in sins is no means to escape Gods judgments. With men one and all is a word of security. Men think, I do but as others do, and I shall escape as well as they. With men this is somewhat, with God it is nothing; though all sorts offend, yet there is never a whir the more security thereby unto any.
3. The priests have usually been the causes of all the wickedness in, and judgments on, a nation.
4. The people will usually go the way the king and priests go. But they are not to be excused on this ground.
5. Kings and princes must have sin charged upon them, and be made to know that they are under the threats of God, as well as others. The charge is not on evil counsellors, but on the house of the king itself. Evil princes may be as great a cause why there are evil counsellors, as evil counsellors why there are evil princes. Evil counsellors usually see what the design of a prince is, and what is suitable to his disposition, and they cherish that with their wicked counsels.
6. Though kings are to be reproved for sin, some due respect ought to be shown to them.
7. When God pleads against us, let us not disregard. If we do so when He begins to plead His cause with us, if we neglect it because judgment is not upon us, it will proceed to a sentence. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
Nets to catch souls
How cunningly have men laid such nets! They say it is but yielding a little to a thing enjoined by authority; besides, it is really unimportant, and is countenanced by the example of many learned and godly men; yea, and why should you hinder yourself of the good you may do? It is after all a mere matter of circumstance connected with decency and order, and consistent with much devotion, and by yielding as far as we can, we may gain papists; none but a company of simple people oppose these ancient customs, which can plead the precedent of the fathers of the Church, yea, of many martyrs who have shed their blood. Thus many souls have been caught, as a bird in a snare, with these lines and twigs thus cunningly twisted together; and so caught that they could not tell how to get out, but being once involved in the meshes were ensnared more and more: as a bird once caught in the net, by its very flutterings is the more entangled; so men, when they yielded a little, could not tell where to stop, but at last have gone so far, and been so completely ensnared as to be wholly unable to extricate them selves, but by their very efforts have become more deeply involved. And the truth is, at length even their consciences have ceased to disquiet them: as a bird, that is perhaps at first alarmed when the net is but stirred, after a while loses its fear. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Mizpah and Tabor
Mizpah, the scene of the solemn covenant of Jacob with Laban, and of his signal protection by God, lay in the mountainous part of Gilead on the east of Jordan. Tabor was the well known (traditional) mountain of the Transfiguration, which rises out of the midst of the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, about a thousand feet high, and in the form of a sugar loaf. Of Mount Tabor it is related by St. Jerome that birds were still snared upon it. But something more seems intended than the mere likeness of birds taken in the snare of the fowler. This was to be seen everywhere. The prophet has selected places on both sides of Jordan, which were probably centres of corruption, or special scenes of wickedness. Mizpah, being a sacred place in the history of the patriarch Jacob, was probably, like Gilgal, and other sacred places, desecrated by idolatry. Tabor was the scene of Gods deliverance by Barak. There, by encouraging idolatries, they became hunters, not pastors, of souls. There is an old Jewish tradition that liers in wait were set in these two places to intercept and murder those Israelites who persisted in going up to worship at Jerusalem. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Gods judicial process and sentence
The plain meaning is, that as fowlers and hunters lay snares and nets for birds and beasts on the mountains of Israel; so their priests and rulers, by their erroneous doctrine, fraudulent counsels, subtle edicts, and profane example, and countenancing of sin, deceived the people, and ensnared them to follow idolatry. Doctrine–
1. There is no rank, but they will be found to have guiltiness to lay to heart, in a time when God pleads a controversy with a land.
2. As the Word of God doth reach and oblige all ranks of persons, be in what eminency they will; and as the Lords faithful servants must preach against the sins of all, without respect of person; so the general overspreading of sin is no way to escape judgments, but rather to hasten them.
3. When God is coming against a people in judgment, it concerns them to be very serious in considering what He saith from His Word; and He will at last force audience and attention from the most stubborn.
4. The Lords contending with His people by His Word is not an ordinary challenge, as of one displeased only, but the judicial procedure and sentence of the Supreme Judge.
5. God may testify much of His anger against a people, in the teachers and rulers He gives them, as being fit means to ripen them for judgment.
6. Subtle snares and insinuations are more dangerous for drawing men wrong than open violences.
7. It is a great sin in men when they prove a snare to others, or by their insinuations, example, or policy, draw them to sin against God. (George Hutcheson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER V
This chapter begins with threatening the Israelites for
ensnaring the people to idolatry by their sacrifices and other
rites on Mizpah and Tabor, 1-5.
Their sacrifices, however costly, are declared to be
unacceptable, 6;
and their substance is devoted to the locust, 7.
Nor is judgment to stop here. The cities of Judah are called
upon, in a very animated manner, to prepare for the approach of
enemies. Benjamin is to be pursued; Ephraim is to be desolate;
and all this is intimated to Israel, that they may by
repentance avert the judgment, 8, 9.
The following verses contain farther denunciations, 10-13,
expressed in terms equally terrible and sublime, 14.
The Lord afflicts not willingly the children of men; he visits
them with temporal calamities that he may heal their spiritual
malady, 15.
NOTES ON CHAP. V
Verse 1. Hear ye this, O priests] A process is instituted against the priests, the Israelites, and the house of the king; and they are called on to appear and defend themselves. The accusation is, that they have ensnared the people, caused them to practise idolatry, both at Mizpah and Tabor. Mizpah was situated beyond Jordan; in the mountains of Gilead; see Jdg 11:29. And Tabor was a beautiful mountain in the tribe of Zebulun. Both these places are said to be eminent for hunting, &c., and hence the natural occurrence of the words snare and net, in speaking of them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hear ye this, O priests: proclamation is made, and the criminals are cited to appear, and attend their charge; amongst which the priests are first summoned: not of the tribe of Levi, not Gods priests, but Baals priests, priests of the high places; such they called themselves, so accounted by the people, and priests they were as good as their constitution by Jeroboam son of Nebat could make them.
Hearken, ye house of Israel; all the people of Israel, hearken and consider duly.
Give ye ear, O house of the king; all you of Menahems court, and all you that are of the royal family. It is very probable, if not plainly certain, that Menahem was king at this time over Israel, and that Hosea points him out with his whole family.
For judgment is toward you; for to you it appertained to execute judgment, and do right, so some; but the most read it, as we do,
judgment is toward, i.e. against you; you have sinned, and God will punish. Gods controversy, Hos 4:1, is with you all, but first with priests who neglected to instruct the people, next with the body of the people, and lastly with the king, court, and his family.
Ye have been a snare; you, O priests and princes, nobles and judges, have insnared the people by your examples and practices, which have been idolatrous, and the people have imitated you: it may possibly refer to that the Jews say was done, spies set to watch who went to Jerusalem to worship and to inform, that they might be punished: or else thus. By commending the calves, and palliating the idolatry committed in worshipping them, by persuading the people they might as well worship there as at Jerusalem, you have been a snare unto them, and drawn them into idolatry.
On Mizpah; either taken comparatively, as fowlers and hunters have taken many birds and beasts, by gins and snares, on Mizpah, so you have insnared many souls in idolatry; or, by idolatries acted at Mizpah you have insnared many: so at Mizpah there was a high place, and idolatrous worship performed there; whether at Mizpah in Judah, which is not very likely, or Mizpah part of Libanus, which is the more likely, I determine not.
And a net spread upon Tabor; a very famous mount for its exact roundness, and the height thereof, and as famous for the pleasantness thereof, which easily persuades me to think this hill must needs have some high place on it, and that where high places were so much in fashion, Tabor could not be omitted. Here, as in Mizpah, idolatry caught men as birds or wild beasts are taken in a net: or briefly thus. The priests and secular power did make religion and the civil government a snare for men, both so managed the laws of each as to entrap all they could; as if men were fowls and beasts, and governors civil and ecclesiastical hunters and fowlers, and their laws nets and gins set to catch men, and make a prey of them. Thus it was in Israel at that day.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the kingprobably Pekah;the contemporary of Ahaz, king of Judah, under whom idolatry wasfirst carried so far in Judah as to call for the judgment of thejoint Syrian and Israelite invasion, as also that of Assyria.
judgment is towards youthatis, threatens you from God.
ye have been a snare onMizpah . . . net . . . upon TaborAs hunters spread their netand snares on the hills, Mizpah and Tabor, so ye have snared thepeople into idolatry and made them your prey by injustice. As Mizpahand Tabor mean a “watch tower,” and a “loftyplace,” a fit scene for hunters, playing on the words, theprophet implies, in the lofty place in which I have set you, whereasye ought to have been the watchers of the people, guardingthem from evil, ye have been as hunters entrapping them intoit [JEROME]. These twoplaces are specified, Mizpah in the east and Tabor in the west, toinclude the high places throughout the whole kingdom,in which Israel’s rulers set up idolatrous altars.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hear ye this, O priests,…. Though idolatrous ones, who called themselves priests, and were reckoned so by others, though not of the tribe of Levi, but such as Jeroboam had made priests, or were their successors; and there might be some of the family of Aaron and tribe of Levi, that might continue in the cities of Israel, and who gave in to the idolatrous worship of those times. Some render it “princes” c and the word signifies both:
and hearken, ye house of Israel; not the kingdom of Judah, as Kimchi, for this is manifestly distinguished from Israel in this chapter; nor the sanhedrim, to which sense Aben Ezra seems to incline; but the ten tribes, the whole kingdom of Israel, the common people in it:
and give ye ear, O house of the king; of the king of Israel, who, at this time, is thought to be Menahem; the royal family, the princes of the blood, and all that belonged to the king’s court; all of every office, priestly or kingly, of every rank, high and low, are called upon to hearken to what is about to be said, both concerning their sin and punishment:
for judgment [is] toward you: either to know and do that which is just and right; it belonged to the priests to know and teeth divine judgment, to instruct the people in the knowledge of the judgments, statutes, and laws of God; and it belonged to, the king to execute human judgment, to do justice and judgment according to the laws of God, and of the realm; and it belonged to the people to attend to both: so the Targum,
“does it not “belong” to you to know judgments?”
or rather this is to be understood of punitive justice and judgment, of the sentence of condemnation, or denunciation of punishment for sin: the reasons of which follow,
because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor; these were two high mountains in the land of Israel; the former was near Hermon and Lebanon, and the same with Gilead, Jos 11:3; the latter was a mountain in Galilee, between Issachar and Zebulun, six miles from Nazareth: it was, according to Joseph ben Gorion d almost four miles high, had on the top of it a plain of almost three miles; the true Josephus e says is was three and a quarter miles; [See comments on Jer 46:18]; the Jews f have a tradition, that Jeroboam set spies upon these mountains at the time of the solemn feasts, to watch who went to them out of Israel, and to inform against them; but these could not command all the roads leading to Jerusalem. It may be these mountains were much infested with hawkers and hunters, to which there may be an allusion; and the sense be, ye priests, people, and king, are like to those that set snares and nets on those hills, as they to ensnare and catch creatures, so ye to ensnare and draw men into idolatrous practices; or rather, since there is no note of comparison, the meaning is, that they set up altars, and offered sacrifices on these hills, and thereby ensnared not only those of their own tribes, but drew and enticed many of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to fall in with the same idolatrous practices.
c “significat sacerdotes et principes”, vid. 2 Sam. viii. 18. “Sacerdotes ac domum regis”, i.e. “regem cum principibus et aulicis”, Liveleus. d Hist. Heb. l. 4. c. 25. p. 635. e De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 1. sect. 9. f Jarchi ex Tanehuma, Abendana ex Midrash.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With the words “Hear ye this,” the reproof of the sins of Israel makes a new start, and is specially addressed to the priests and the king’s house, i.e., the king and his court, to announce to the leaders of the nation the punishment that will follow their apostasy from God and their idolatry, by which they have plunged the people and the kingdom headlong into destruction. Hos 5:1-5 form the first strophe. Hos 5:1. “Hear ye this, ye priests; and give heed thereto, O house of Israel; and observe it, O house of the king! for the judgment applies to you; for ye have become a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.” By the word “ this,” which points back to Hos 5:4, the prophecy that follows is attached to the preceding one. Beside the priests and the king’s house, i.e., the royal family, in which the counsellors and adjutants surrounding the king are probably included, the house of Israel, that is to say, the people of the ten tribes regarded as a family, is summoned to hear, because what was about to be announced applied to the people and kingdom as a whole. There is nothing to warrant our understanding by the “house of Israel,” the heads of the nation or elders. Lakjem hammishpat does not mean, It rests with you to know or to defend the right; nor, “Ye ought to hear the reproof,” as Hitzig explains it, for mishpat in this connection signifies neither “the maintenance of justice” nor “a reproof,” but the judgment about to be executed by God, (lxx). The thought is this, The judgment will fall upon you; and lakhem refers chiefly to the priests and the king’s house, as the explanatory clause which follows clearly shows. It is impossible to determine with certainty what king’s house is intended. Probably that of Zechariah or Menahem; possibly both, since Hosea prophesied in both reigns, and merely gives the quintessence of his prophetical addresses in his book. Going to Asshur refers rather to Menahem than to Zechariah (comp. 2Ki 15:19-20). In the figures employed, the bird-trap ( pach) and the net spread for catching birds, it can only be the rulers of the nation who are represented as a trap and net, and the birds must denote the people generally who are enticed into the net of destruction and caught (cf. Hos 9:8).
(Note: Jerome has given a very good explanation of the figure: “I have appointed you as watchmen among the people, and set you in the highest place of honour, that ye might govern the erring people; but ye have become a trap, and are to be called sportsmen rather than watchmen.”)
Mizpah, as a parallel to Tabor, can only be the lofty Mizpah of Gilead (Jdg 10:17; Jdg 11:29) or Ramah-Mizpah, which probably stood upon the site of the modern es-Salt (see at Deu 4:43); so that, whilst Tabor represents the land on this side of the Jordan, Mizpah, which resembled it in situation, is chosen to represent the land to the east of the river.
(Note: As Tabor, for instance, rises up as a solitary conical hill (see at Jdg 4:6), so es-Salt is built about the sides of a round steep hill, which rises up in a narrow rocky valley, and upon the summit of which there stands a strong fortification (see Seetzen in Burckhardt’s Reisen in Syrien, p. 1061).)
Both places were probably noted as peculiarly adapted for bird-catching, since Tabor is still thickly wooded. The supposition that they had been used as places of sacrifice in connection with idolatrous worship, cannot be inferred from the verse before us, nor is it rendered probable by other passages.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Charge against Israel and Judah; Judgments Threatened. | B. C. 758. |
1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. 4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. 5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. 6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
Here, I. All orders and degrees of men are cited to appear and answer to such things as shall be laid to their charge (v. 1): Hear you this, O priests! whether in holy orders (as those in Judah, and perhaps many in Israel too, for in the ten tribes there were divers cities of priests and Levites, who, it is probable, staid in their own lot after the revolt of the ten tribes and did so much of their office as might be done at a distance from the temple) or pretending holy orders, as the priests of the calves, who, some think, are included here. “Hearken, you house of Israel, the common people, and give ear, O house of the king!” let them all take notice, for they have all contributed to the national guilt, and they shall all share in the national judgments. Note, If neither the sanctity of the priesthood nor the dignity of the royal family will prevail to keep out sin, it cannot be expected that they should avail to keep out wrath. If the priests, and the house of the king, though they bear such noble characters, sin like others, their noble characters will not excuse them, but they must smart like others. Nor shall it be any plea for the house of Israel that they were misled by their priests and princes, but they shall receive their doom with them, and neither their meanness nor their multitude shall be their exemption.
II. Witness is produced against them, one instead of a thousand; it is God’s omniscience (v. 3): I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me. They have not known the Lord (v. 4), but the Lord has known them, knows their true character however disguised, knows their secret wickedness however concealed. Note, Men’s rejecting the knowledge of God will not secure them from his knowledge of them; and when he contends with them he will prove their sins upon them by his own knowledge, so that is will be in vain to plead Not guilty.
III. Very bad things are laid to their charge. 1. They had been very ingenious and very industrious to draw people either into sin or into trouble: You have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor (v. 1), that is, such snares and nets as the huntsmen used to lay upon those mountains in pursuit of their game. When the worship of the calves was set up in Israel the patrons of that idolatry, and sticklers for it, contrived by all possible arts and wiles to draw men into it and reconcile those to it that at first had a dread of it. Note, Those that allure and entice men to sin, however they may pretend friendship and good-will, are to be looked upon as snares and nets to them, and their hands as bands, Eccl. vii. 26. But to those whom they could not seduce into sin they were as a net and a snare to bring them into trouble. Some think it was their practice to set spies in the road, and particularly upon the mountains of Mizpah and Tabor, at the times of the solemn feasts at Jerusalem, to watch if any of their people who were piously affected went thither, and to inform against them, that they might be prosecuted for it, thus doing the devil’s work, who disquiets those whom he cannot debauch. 2. They had been both very crafty and very cruel in carrying on their designs (v. 2): The revolters are profound to make slaughter. Note, Those who have themselves apostatized from the truths of God are often the most subtle and barbarous persecutors of those who still adhere to them. Nothing will serve them but to make slaughter (it is the blood of the saints that they thirst after): and with the serpent’s sting they have his head; they are profound to do it. O the depth of the depths of Satan, of the wickedness of his agents, of those that have deeply revolted! Isa. xxxi. 6. Now that which aggravated this was the many reproofs and warnings that had been given them: Though I have been a rebuker of them all. The prophet had been so, a reprover by office. He had many a time told them of the evil of their ways and doings, had dealt plainly with them all, and had not spared either the priests or the house of the king. God himself had been a rebuker of them all by their own consciences and by his providences. Note, Sins against reproof are doubly sinful, Prov. xxix. 1. 3. They had committed whoredom, had defiled their own bodies with fleshly lusts, had defiled their own souls with the worship of idols, v. 3. This God was a witness to, though secretly committed and artfully palliated. Nay, the piercing eye of God saw the spirit of whoredom that was in the midst of them, their secret inclination and disposition to those sins, the love they had to their sins, and the dominion their sins had over them, how much they were under the power of a spirit of whoredom, that root of bitterness which bore all this gall and wormwood, that corrupt and poisoned fountain. 4. They had no disposition at all to come into acquaintance and communion with God. The spirit of whoredoms, having caused them to err from him, keeps them wandering endlessly, v. 4. (1.) They have not known the Lord, nor desire to know him, but have rather declined, nay dreaded, the knowledge of him, for that would disturb them in their sinful ways. (2.) Therefore they will not frame their doings to turn to their God, by which it appeared that they did not know him aright. This intimates their obstinate persistence in their apostasy from God; they would not turn to God, though he was their God, theirs in covenant, by whose name they had been called, and whom they were bound to serve. They would not return to the worship of him, from which they had turned aside. Nay, they would not frame their doings to turn to God. They would not consider their ways, nor dispose themselves into a serious temper, nor apply their minds to think of those things that would bring them to God. It is true we cannot by our own power, without the special grace of God, turn to him; but we may by the due improvement of our faculties, and the common aids of his Spirit, frame our doings to turn to him. Those that will not do this, that prepare not their hearts to seek the Lord (2 Chron. xii. 14), owe it to themselves that they are not turned; they die because they will die; and to those that will do this further grace shall not be wanting. (5.) They were guilty of notorious arrogancy, and insolence in sin (v. 5): The pride of Israel doth testify to his face, doth witness against him that he is a rebel to God and his government. The spirit of whoredoms which was in the midst of them showed itself in the gaiety and gaudiness of their worship, as a harlot is known by her attire, Prov. vii. 10. The wantonness of her dress testifies to her face that she is not a modest woman. Or their pride in confronting the prophets God sent them and the message they brought (Jer. xliii. 2), or a haughty scornful conduct towards their brethren and those that were under them, witnessed against them that they were not God’s people and justified God in all the humbling judgments he brought upon them. His pride testifies in his face; so some read it, agreeing with Isa. iii. 9, The show of their countenance doth witness against them. They have that proud look which the Lord hates. (6.) They departed from God to idols, and bred up their children in idolatry (v. 7): They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, as a wife, who, in contempt of the marriage covenant, forsakes her husband, and lives in adultery with another. Thus those who are guilty of spiritual idolatry, whose god is their money, whose god is their belly, deal treacherously against the Lord; they violate their engagements to him and frustrate his expectations from them. Note, Wilful sinners are treacherous dealers. They have begotten strange children, that is, their children which they have begotten are estranged from God, and trained up in a false way of worship; they are a spurious brood, as children of fornication (John viii. 41), whom God will disown. Note, Those deal treacherously with God indeed who not only turn from following him themselves but train up their children in wicked ways.
IV. Very sad things are made to be their doom. In general (v. 1), “Judgment is towards you. God is coming forth to contend with you, and to testify his displeasure against you for your sins.” It is time to hearken when judgment is towards us. In particular,
1. They shall fall in their iniquity. This follows upon their pride testifying to their face (v. 5) Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity. Note, Pride will have a fall; it is the certain presage and forerunner of it. Those that exalt themselves shall be abased. The face in which pride testifies shall be filled with confusion. They shall not only fall, but fall in their iniquity, the saddest fall of any. Their pride kept them from repenting of their iniquity, and therefore they shall fall in it. Note, Those that are not humbled for their sins are likely to perish for ever in their sins. It is added, Judah also shall fall with them in her iniquity. As the ten tribes were carried captive into Assyria, for their idolatry, so the two tribes, in process of time, were carried into Babylon for following their bad example; but the former fell and were utterly cast down, the latter fell and were raised up again. Judah had the temple and priesthood, and yet these shall not secure them, but, if they sin with Israel and Ephraim, with them they shall fall.
2. They shall fall short of God’s favour when they profess to seek it (v. 6): They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but in vain; they shall not find him. This seems to be spoken principally of Judah, when they fell into their iniquity, and when they fell in their iniquity. (1.) When they fell into their iniquity they sought the Lord; but they did not seek him only, and therefore he was not found of them. When they worshipped strange gods, yet they kept up the show and shadow of the worship of the true God; they went as usual, at the solemn feasts, with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord; but their hearts were not upright with him, because they were not entire for him, and therefore he would not accept them; for then only shall we find him when we seek him with our whole heart, not divided between God and Baal, Ezek. xiv. 3. (2.) When they fell in their iniquity, or found themselves falling by it, they sought the Lord; but they did not seek him early, and therefore he will not be found of them. They shall see ruin coming upon them, and shall then, in their distress, flee to God, and think to make him their friend with burnt-offerings and sacrifices; but it will be too late then to turn away his wrath when the decree has gone forth. Even Josiah’s reformation did not prevail to turn away the wrath of God,2Ki 23:25; 2Ki 23:26. Those that go with their flocks and their herds only to seek the Lord, and not with their hearts and souls, cannot expect to find him, for his favour is not to be purchased with thousands of rams. Nor shall those speed who do not seek the Lord while he may be found, for there is a time when he will not be found. They shall not find him, for he has withdrawn himself; he will not be enquired of by them, but will turn a deaf ear to their sacrifices. See how much it is our concern to seek God early, now while the accepted time is, and the day of salvation.
3. They and their portions shall all be swallowed up. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, and have thought to strengthen themselves in it by their alliances with strange children; but now shall a month devour them with their portions, that is, their estates and inheritances, all those things which they have taken, and taken up with, as their portion; or by their portions is meant their idols, whom they chose for their portion instead of God. Note, Those that make an idol of the world, by taking it for their portion, will themselves perish with it. A month shall devour them, or eat them up–a certain time prefixed, and a short time. When God’s judgments begin with them they shall soon make an end; one month will do their business. How much may a body be weakened by one month’s sickness, or a kingdom wasted by one month’s war! Three shepherds (says God) I cut off in one month, Zech. xi. 8. Note, The judgments of God sometimes make quick work with a sinful people. A month devours more, and more portions, than many years can repair.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
HOSEA – CHAPTER 5
JUDGMENTS ON THE PRIESTS, PEOPLE, AND‘
PRINCES OF ISRAEL
Verses 1-15:
Verse 1 calls upon the priests and house of Israel, house of the king, to give heed to certain pending Divine judgment that is about to fall upon them, because their behavior had been like high hill and mountain hunters of Mizpah and Tabor who set entrapment snares and nets to trap their prey, birds and beasts. For Israel had become snared into idolatry, adultery, and injustice, by her own priests, princes, and kings. While they were supposed to be watchers and guardians of God’s laws and worship, they had become breakers and desecraters of it, much as recounted Mar 7:1-13.
Verse 2 explains that their rulers and priests had made profound their reasons to slaughter (not sacrifice) many animals as they offered them before idol gods, even golden gods, in Dan and Bethel, to keep their people from returning to Jerusalem where David ruled. They thus “deeply corrupted” themselves, Hos 9:9; Isa 31:6. The rulers argued the people into accepting these slaughters before idols as a matter of humanitarian expediency, Isa 29:15. All this happened in spite of God’s warnings and rebukes, through His law and the prophets, whom if men hear not, they would not though one arose from the dead, Exo 20:1-4; Luk 16:31.
Verse 3 asserts that He knows Ephraim, the foremost of the ten Northern tribes of Israel. For 40 years Ephraim, with Manasseh and Benjamin, its two dependent or weaker tribes, held preeminence in the whole nation of Israel. But she is now foremost and preeminent in the advocacy and practice of idolatry. And neither Ephraim nor Israel in all their cunning idolatrous devices shall escape judgment for their disobedience and idolatry, for God knows their deeds, Rev 2:9; Rev 2:13; Rev 2:19. Even now, continually, Ephraim is charged with living on in practice of whoredoms, thinking they are hidden from God’s judgment, Ecc 12:14. Though these sins were open and naked to God and the public.
Verse 4 further explains that the people are so enslaved in the deeds of idolatry, as a wine growing in a frame, that they do not even have a desire, a frame of mind, to turn from their evil practices. They resisted the spirit and word of God, desiring to hold to their whoredoms more, Isa 63:10; Eze 16:43; Act 7:51; Pro 29:1.
Verse 5 charges that Israel’s pride, which goes before destruction, in their ignoring God’s warnings, is all the blushing testimony needed against them for Divine judgment to fall justly upon them, Hos 7:10; Jer 13:17; Isa 3:9; Pro 16:18. The fall of Israel and Ephraim, the Northern kingdom of Israel, is therefore announced as certain, to be followed by Judah, the Southern kingdom as well, because she too, had now gone after idolatry, in willful disregard for and defiance of the very law her temple was to uphold, Exo 20:1-4; Amo 7:7.
Verse 6 details how they shall later go forth, wander, with their flocks and herds, to seek the Lord, but shall not find Him. For He would not hear or heed their prayers until they had been chastised in a foreign land. He withdrew His fellowship from them, because of their sins, leaving them to reap their judgment, but not without warning, Pro 1:28; Isa 1:15; Jer 7:16; Jer 11:11; Jer 11:14; Eze 8:18; Mic 3:4; Joh 7:34.
Verse 7 gives the valid reason for this judgment. It was because of Israel’s treachery; Married to God, she became a carnal sensual, willful, religious harlot. She had begotten strange (heathen) children, broken their marriage contract with God, given their sons and daughters in marriage, soul and body, to heathen, idol gods, Deu 25:5. This judgment was to fall quickly, in one month, with all they had, when it began, Zec 11:1; Isa 57:6; Jer 10:16.
Verse 8 calls upon Hosea to “blow the coronet in Gibeath”, and “the trumpet in Ramah.” These were musical instruments used to herald the coming of marching armies and enemies, in times of war, and on solemn occasions. Both cities were in the territory of Benjamin, Isa 10:29. The coronet was made of the curved horn of animals and used chiefly by shepherds, while the trumpet was made of brass or silver, a straight instrument, and used primarily on solemn, formal occasions, Hos 8:1; Joe 2:1.
He was also to “cry aloud at Beth-aven,” a town in Benjamin, east of Bethel, near AI, Hos 4:15; Jos 7:2. The “cry” was to sound an alarm of the coming enemy after them, as they were to flee, because of their sins. Benjamin is here used to represent the southern kingdom of Judah, as in v. 5. The term “after thee” means “close upon you,” Jdg 5:14.
Verse 9 restates certain desolation upon Ephraim and the northern kingdom of Israel’s ten tribes because they had not accepted His rebuke to turn from their idolatries, Exo 20:1-5; Psa 115:1-9.
Verse 10 charges that the prince-rulers of Judah, of the southern kingdom of Israel, are described as anarchists against the very law of God they were entrusted to guard and administer, removing ancient ancestral landmarks of their neighbors; But princes of Judah had removed landmarks of worship between God and Baal, Deu 19:14; Deu 27:17; Job 24:2; Pro 22:28; Pro 23:10. Ahaz and his countries or princes of Judah set aside the ancient ordinances of the law, removing the bases, the laver, and the sea, replacing them with an idolatrous altar, made by Uriah the priest, after a pattern in Damascus; Then he burned his children in sacrifice in Hinnom, an abominable heathen practice, 2Ki 16:10-18; 2Ch 18:3. For such God’s anger was to fall, Jer 10:25.
Verse 11 warns of oppression or heavy calamity and a certain crushing judgment about to befall Ephraim and the northern ten tribes of Israel, because they had walked after, pursued the statutes of Jeroboam, to worship the calves, willingly, of their own will or volition, to practice whoredoms of the heathen order of worship, which he adopted, 1Ki 7:28; Mic 6:16; 2Ki 10:28-33.
Verse 12 foretells the kind of personal suffering that is to come upon them, within and without. “Moth and rottenness” are destructive powers. The moth eats clothes without, while rottenness eats flesh and wood, from within. Slowly but surely each does its destructive work, Job 13:28; Psa 39:11; Isa 1:9. Even so the sinner has foes, trouble, within and without. A guilty conscience, monitor of the soul, keeps from peace within, like a gnawing worm, and judgment for wrong falls without; Ephraim is the garment, eaten by moths, and Judah is the body eaten by rottenness, in her bones, skeletal support, Pro 12:4.
Verse 13 relates that Ephraim, upon seeing her sickness or weakness, and Judah upon seeing her wound, Jer 30:12, Ephraim, following false gods, turned to the heathen Assyrian king Jereb for healing of sickness and curing of her wounds; She sought help and healing from another spiritually sick nation. Sick people don’t seek other sick people to make them well, do they? Yet, note Israel and Judah’s behavior, Isa 1:6; Jer 30:12. They did not seek counsel from God for their calamity, but from Assyria, 2Ki 15:19; 2Ki 17:3; Assyria saw their wickedness and weakness and pounced upon them as his prey; Thus Assyria became God’s avenger of Israel’s sins, Jdg 6:32; 2Ki 16:7-8; 2Ch 28:16-21.
Verse 14 describes further the manner of coming judgment on Ephraim. It was to be “as a lion” (a black, older, roaring lion) and as a “young lion” an emblem of strength and ferociousness. They can no more protect themselves from God’s judgment than from vicious, ferocious attacking lions. God asserts, “I, even I will tear and go away,” like a lion that stalks back to his lair with his prey, after a satisfying meal. The idea is that God was to use Assyria to judge both Judah and Israel, while He withdrew His protection because of their willful, presumptuous sins, Psa 50:22.
Verse 15 announces that God will rest or abide the time when Israel and Judah acknowledge their offense and seek His face or favor. It is the image of the lion, leisurely returning to his cover, after having taken his prey. There He awaits their suffering as a penalty for guilt, their “loathing” themselves in “self-accusation” for their sins that brought them into captivity again, Eze 36:31. There, in heaven their creator, husband, and sustainer awaits His lover’s repentance and return and confession of her wrong, Pro 24:26; Psa 119:147; Psa 78:34. They will one day seek Him earnestly and urgently and find Him, Deu 4:29-30; 2Ch 7:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet here again preaches against the whole people: but he mainly directs his discourse to the priests and the rulers; for they were the source of the prevailing evils: the priests, intent on gain, neglected the worship of God; and the chief men, as we have seen, were become in every way corrupt. Hence the Prophet here especially inveighs against these orders, and at the same time, records some vices which then prevailed among the people, and that through the fault of the priests and rulers. But before I pursue farther the subject of the Prophets something must be said of the words.
When he says, To you is judgment, some explain it, “It is your duty to do judgment,” to maintain government, that every one may discharge his own office; for judgment is taken for rectitude; the word משפט, mesgepheth, means a right order of things. Hence they think that the priests and rulers are here condemned for discharging so badly their office, because they had no care for what was right. But this sense is too strained. The Prophet, therefore, I doubt not, summons here the priests and the king’s counselors to God’s tribunal, that they might give an answer there; for the contempt of God, we know, prevailed among the great; they were secure, as though exempt from judgment, as though released from laws and all order. To you, then is judgment; that is, God addresses you by name, and declares that he will be your avenger, though ye heedlessly despise his judgment.
Some again take מצפה, metsephe, for a beacon, and thus translate, “Ye have been a snare instead of a beacon.” But this mistake is refuted by the second clause, for the Prophet adds immediately, a net expanded over Tabor: and it is well known that Mizpah and Tabor were high mountains, and for their height celebrated and renowned; we also know that hunting was common on these mountains. The Prophet, then, no doubt means here, that both the priests and the king’s counselors were like snares and nets: “As fowlers and hunters were wont to spread their nets and snares on mount Mizpah and on Tabor; so the people also have been ensnared by you.” This is the plain meaning of the words. Some conjecture, that robbers were there located by the kings of Israel to intercept the Israelites, when they found any ascending into Jerusalem, as we now see everywhere persons lying in wait, that no one from the Papacy may come over to us. But this conjecture is too far fetched. I have already explained the Prophet’s meaning: he makes use, as we have said, of a similitude.
Let us now return to what he teaches: Hear this, he says, ye Priests, and attend, ye house of Israel, and give ear, ye house of the king The Prophet, indeed, includes the whole people in the second clause, but turns his discourse expressly to the priests and the king’s counselors; which ought to be specially noticed; for it is indeed, as we shall hereafter see, the general subject of this chapter. He did not without reason attack the princes, because the main fault was in them; nor the priests, because they were dumb dogs, and had also led away the people from God’s pure worship into false superstitions; and so great was their avidity for filthy lucre that they perverted the law and every thing that was before pure among the people. It is no wonder then that the Prophet, while treating a general subject, suitable to all orders indiscriminately, should yet denounce judgment on the priests and the king’s counselors. With regard to these counselors, they, in order to confirm the kingdom, had also approved of false and spurious forms of worship, as it has been before stated; and they had also followed other vices; for the Prophet, I doubt not, condemns here other corruptions besides superstitions, and those which we know everywhere prevailed among the people, and of which something has been already said.
And to show his earnestness, he uses three sentences: Ye priests, hear this; then, house of Israel, attend; and in the third place, house of the king, give ear; as though he said, “In vain do they seek subterfuges, for the Lord will execute on them the judgment he now declares:” and yet he gives them opportunity and time for repentance, inasmuch as he bids them to attend to this denunciation.
Now this passage teaches, that even kings are not exempted from the duty of learning what is commonly taught, if they wish to be counted members of the Church; for the Lord would have all, without exception, to be ruled by his word; and he takes this as a proof of men’s obedience, their submission to his word. And as kings think themselves separated from the general class of men, the Prophet here shows that he was sent to the king and his counselors. The same reason holds good as to priests; for as the dignity of their order is the highest, so this impiety has prevailed in all ages, that the priests think themselves at liberty to do what they please. The Prophet therefore shows, that they are not raised up so much on high, but that the Lord shines eminently above their heads with his word. Let us know, lastly, that in the Church the word of God so possesses the highest rank, that neither priests, nor kings, nor their counselors, can claim a privilege to themselves, as though their conduct was not to be subject to God’s word.
This then is a remarkable passage for establishing the word of God: and thus we see how abominable is the boast of the Papal clergy of this day; for they spread before us the mask of the priesthood, when the word of God is brought forward, as though they would outshine by the splendor of their dignity the whole Law, all the Prophets, and the very Gospel. But the Lord here upholds his word against all degrees of men, and shows that both kings and priests must be brought down from their eminence, that they may obey the word. Yea, we must bear in mind what I have before said, that though the whole people had sinned, yet kings and priests are here in a special manner reproved, because they deserved a heavier punishment, inasmuch as by their depraved examples they had corrupted the whole people.
When he compares them to snares and nets, I do not then confine this to one thing; but as the contagion among the whole people had proceeded from the priests and the king’s counselors, and also from the king himself, the Prophet compares them, not without reason, to snares; not only because they were the authors of superstitions, but also because they perverted judgment and all equity. Let us go on —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
HOSEAOR GODS AFFECTION FOR AN UNFAITHFUL PEOPLE
Hos 1:1 to Hos 14:9.
IT is our purpose in this series of articles on the Minor Prophets to throw such light upon these twelve Books as to make them meaningful and profitable to our readers. I suppose it may be safely said that the average Christian leaves these Books unstudied, and some of them unreada circumstance due to certain natural difficulties in their interpretation; but in greater measure still, to the poor work of present-day preaching. The custom of taking a text has wrought havoc in Bible study. Our fathers in the ministry were Bible expositors; their successors are textual preachers. The result is described in one of the minor Prophets:
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of the Lord:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it (Amo 8:11-12).
There are some simple and yet fundamental facts regarding the prophecy of Hosea that are essential to its proper understanding. It was doubtless written by the man whose name it wears. It refers, unquestionably, to the time of Jeroboam the Second, when Elisha, the Prophet of God, was living, and Isaiah, that great Evangel of the Old Testament, was a babe; and when those kings of Judah Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiahwere successively occupying the throne. The date is supposed to be 790 to 725 B. C.
Hosea was the great Evangel of his time. While he was an Elijah the Tishbite, in his stern denunciation of sin, he was a John the Apostle in his sense of Divine love and his eloquent call to repentance.
Some of the Books of the Bible break easily into divisions, and some of the students of Hosea have seen fit to divide it into two such. But our research does not justify the method. To us it is one grand whole, with not a break in thought from first to last. It is a recital of Israels history in her unfaithfulness, and an illustration of Gods goodness to His own people.
For our convenience, however, we divide it into four sections.
THE SYMBOLISM OF GOMERS SIN
And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim (Hos 8:2-3).
These opening sentences of Hosea have given no small trouble to students. Some have received it historically; while others have insisted that God could not send the Prophet on any such mission, without Himself being a party to sin; and so have attempted to interpret it as a dream or vision. Following the custom which we have found alone to be safe, we believe with those who accept the Book at what it says. And yet we have not found the question involved so difficult of solution as some. When it is remembered that the whole people of Israel had already turned to idolatry, we can understand that any daughter selected from them could be spoken of in this language, since the charge of whoredom, with the false gods of the land, lay against every son and daughter of Israel. And even when the narrative seems to specifically charge this woman with this sin, it does not necessitate Gods participation in evil because He sends Hosea to wed her. You will see, ere the history ends, she is won to a righteous life again. So the Prophet is to her what he has become to all IsraelGods agent of salvation. But her sin is symbolical.
It was a sin against law and love. The seventh commandment antedated Hosea and stood as a protest against the violation of that relation which husband and wife sustain to one another, as the whole decalogue stands as Gods protest against the violation of the relation which He and His people sustain to each other. When, therefore, Gomer forgets the law and despises the love of Hosea, she fitly represents the conduct of the whole kingdom in forgetting Gods Law and despising the Divine love. The man who, today, living under the reign of grace, disregards the moral Law and tramples it beneath his feet with impunity, is guilty of a crime of the first magnitude. But the man who adds to that an equal disregard of the Divine love takes the last step needful in the contemplation of his folly and the sealing of his fate.
Paul wrote to the Hebrews:
If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses;
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the covenant, wherewith he wets sanctified, an holy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I wilt recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people (Heb 10:26-30).
This sin was again symbolical in that it was against good society.
The moment the foundations of domestic life are undermined the whole fabric of society is endangered. When lust assaults the home it strikes the essential pillar of the State. And when it overrides the law and love of domestic relation, it leaves desolation in its track and brings in a dark day for the people. When such a sin as this can be found in the first houses the very nation has fallen. Dr. Talmage said truly enough that where there is no pure home there are the Vandals and the Goths of Europe; the Numidians of Africa, and the Nomads of Asia. No home, no school; no household, no republic; no family, no church.
But Gomers sin became more significant still, God made it to be a sorrowful instruction! Strange as it seems, it is yet probably according to the natural law in the spiritual world that Gods spokesmen must be sufferers. It was only after the iron had entered Moses soul as he watched the oppression of his own people from his position in the palace, and by his enforced exile spent forty years on the back side of the desert that he was eloquent as Israels leader. Joshua was fitted by forty years of wilderness wandering for his great work of commanding Israel and conquering Canaan.
But no man could read this Book of Hosea without feeling that its authorour Prophethad suffered probably as much as either of these great predecessors. Joseph Parker says, Hoseas sorrow was of the deepest kind. The daughter of Diblaim was the daughter of the devil. He had no peace, no rest, no singing joy within the four corners of his own house. He lived in clouds; his life was a continual passage through a sea deeper than the Red Sea. If we may vary the figure, his wandering was in the wilderness, unblessed; cursed by the very spirit of desolation.
And yet we do believe that strong natures have the very power to transmute their sorrows into eloquent appeals for righteousness; that the very intensity of their suffering adds solidity to their thought and eloquence to its utterance. We seriously doubt if Hoseas wife had not been a scarlet woman, as she was, whether he could ever have properly sympathized with God, the Father, in that Israel turned from Him to moral infidelity, by worshiping at false shrines and living wicked, sensual lives.
John Bright, that marvelous leader of thought in England, started on his career of splendid service in consequence of an unspeakable sorrow. His young wife, to whom he was devoted, lay dead when Richard Cobden called on him. Having expressed, as best he could, sympathy and condolence, Cobden looked up and said, Bright, there are thousands and thousands of homes in England, at this moment, where wives and mothers and children are dying of hunger. Now when the first paroxysm of your grief has passed, I would advise you to come with me and we will never rest until the corn-laws are repealed.
Cobden showed himself a philosopher that day. He knew full well that one way to recover from a personal pain was to take into ones heart as an antidote, the pain of the people.
You will remember what had more to do, perhaps, with the declaration of war with Spain than any other single thing, the destruction of the Maine excepted. It was Senator Thurstons speech. And how did it happen that this Nebraskan, who had never before been eloquent, spoke before the Senate of the United States with such an appeal as to move even opponents to agree with him? That speech opened in these words,
Mr. President: I am here by command of silent lips to speak once and for all upon the Cuban situation, and trust that no one has expected anything sensational from me. God forbid that the bitterness of a personal loss should induce me to color, in the slightest degree, the statements that I feel it my duty to make. I shall endeavor to be honest, conservative and just. Then he proceeded with such an oration as American law-makers of any decade seldom, if ever, heard. Concluding with these words, Mr. President, in the cable that moored me to life and hope the strongest strands are broken. I have but little left to offer at the altar of freedoms shrine. But all I have I am glad to give. I am ready to serve my country as best I can in the Senate or in the field. My dearest hope, my most earnest prayer to God is this, that when death comes to end all I may meet it calmly and fearlessly, as did my Beloved, in the cause of humanity, and under the American flag.
There is but one explanation of such an address as that. The eloquence of it was born of the sorrow of burying a beloved wife in Cuban soil, and feeling in his heart that the pain of the oppressed people of that land had been already the occasion of her death; and to relieve it, was worthy the laying down of his life.
The Psalmist said, I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good, and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.
It was sorrow. It was that suffering that only a righteous man can feel when sinned against by her whom he loves most, that made Hosea understand the Divine Ones suffering in Israels sin, and adequate to its expression.
PHASES OF ISRAELS INFIDELITY
It found first expression in unwarranted forms. There seems to be a general agreement between students of Hosea that the groves and altars, when first chosen and erected, were unto the Lord. But it does not take long for them to go from unwarranted forms to open infidelity. God did not command any of these at their hands. Her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts, became occasions of Baal-worship. Instead of saying any longer, Ishimy husband, they turned to say, Baalimy lord. It is the history of unwarranted forms in all ages.
When Christ came into the world He found the Church of the Old Testament cold in death, slain by the hands of ceremonialists,the Scribes and Pharisees of His time,who, with their hollow ritualism and hypocrisies, had driven many men to the infidelity of Sadduceeism; so that they said, There is neither angel nor spirit. Truly, as Frederick Robertson said,
No self-righteous formalism will ever satisfy the Conscience of man; neither will infidelity give rise to a devoted spirit. Formalism in religion and infidelity in conduct often go hand in hand.
Charles Dudley Warner tells us that after having traveled around the world he came back to Brindisi, Italy, a so-called Christian country, and entered a so-called Christian Church to see a figure of Christ, the Crucified One, set off in a dark corner with dust gathered on it, while a representation of Mary, the mother, clad with the latest mode of French millinery, flamed before an altar, and their knees bowed there.
It was little better than the Baal-worship of Hoseas time. And if Jesus should come to that church He would have occasion to utter the words which He once addressed to Scribes and Pharisees.
Thus have ye made the Commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.
But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
This degenerate worship was popularized by priest and prince. By reading fourteen verses of the fifth chapter you will see they were its chief patrons. The Prophet of God addressed them Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye House of Israel. Then, after describing their participation in these false and foul ceremonies, he voices God as saying: I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the House of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away: I will take away; and none shall rescue him.
It is a sad day for the Church when the prince, or the man in the place of power, is putrid. It is a darker day when the priest, or the leader in the Church of God, is correspondingly corrupt. When the time came that Tetzel could sell indulgences, with the consent of the priesthood of Rome, the very moral rottenness existing in the Name of Jesus, compelled the Reformation, and gave rise to Luthers opinions, and victory to his appeal. And when, at the present time, a Pastor, either by evil practices, leads his people into iniquity, or by his silence concerning the commercial and other sins of those who contribute to his salary, connives at iniquity, the condition becomes akin to that which Hosea was raised up to rebuke nearly three thousand years ago. And the result for the present day will be the very same as that which came to the Israel of Hoseas time.
It produced the grossest idolatry and immorality.
There is not time to read to you these chapters,4 to 13,but if there were, the reading would only profit you by giving you pain as you looked upon Israels open sore.
It was this principle that Hosea saw and clearly stated so many, many centuries ago,namely, when men become lawless, and are libertines, they cannot hope to keep women upon a plane of chastity and holiness. God distinctly declares that He would not punish their daughters for their sins, in view of the conditions of society, for which priest, prince and peasant were responsible.
George Adam Smith reminds us that history in many periods has confirmed the justice of Hoseas observations, and by one strong voice after another, enforced his terrible warnings. The experience of ancient Persia and Egypt, the languor of the Greek cities, the deep weariness and sated lust which in Imperial Rome made human life a hell. It is only another illustration of the Apostle James words,When lust hath conceived, it bring eth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (Joe 1:15).
THE FOLLY WHICH INFIDELITY EFFECTS
There can be traced in this volume a striking parallelism between the conduct of the individual and of the nation. Gomers treatment of Hosea was Israels treatment of God.
There is a supreme insensibility to undeserved favor. The Prophet says, She did not know that I gave her corn, etc.
Insensibility to Divine favor has often marked the conduct of man. We easily forget that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights. We quickly attribute our blessings to our own ingenuity, to the bounty of nature, or to luck, and just as easily forget Godthe Giver of all. Strange isnt it that the one creature made in His image, endowed with the highest faculties, blessed of Him thousands of times beyond all other works of His hands, should be insensible to what he had received, and to what he is receiving, and know not God gave corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied * * silver and gold.
If this spirit were all in the world it were not so bad; but Gomer is the Prophets wife, and Israel is espoused of God; and this insensibility to Divine favor has smitten the Church, and her children forget Me, saith the Lord. Sam Jones had a man come to him who said, Jones, the church is putting my assessment too high. How much do you pay? asked Jones. Five dollars a year, was the reply. Well, said Jones, how long have you been converted? About four years. What did you do before you were converted? I was a drunkard. How much were you worth? I rented land, and was plowing with a steer. What have you got now? I have a good plantation and a pair of horses. Well, said Jones, you paid the devil two hundred and fifty dollars a year for the privilege of plowing a steer on rented land, and now you dont want to give the God who saved you five dollars a year for the privilege of plowing your own horses on your own plantation. Insensibility to Divine favor! Moses had occasion for that passage in his song, They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not He thy Father that hath bought thee? hath He not made thee, and established thee? (Deu 32:5-6).
They were slow to realize the Divine intent of judgment. After announcing His purpose in judgment, I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the House of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him (Hos 5:14). The Lord reveals His reasons by adding, I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early (Hos 5:15). Deliverance is always the Divine purpose in Gods judgments against His people. The Psalmist said, Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word. And it was only after the Lord had visited them with judgment that Israel could say, Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up (Hos 6:1).
But, like sinners of all ages, Ephraim must be smitten, her root dried up, so that they shall bear no fruit, and they realize themselves utterly cast away because they did not hearken unto the Lord. It is only after Israel hath destroyed herself that she realizes the source of life in God.
How strikingly this experience parallels that of weak men in all ages! Only when the prodigal, clothed in rags, starved to the point of sustenance on the honeysuckle, and sitting with the swine, does he come to himself. As a rule, the man that follows the lusts of the flesh, and goes the way of the libertine, or the drunkard, never sees the meaning of the Divine judgment until his sins have slain his manhood, wrecked his business, scattered his family, consumed his flesh, and left him as perfectly stranded as was ever a vessel when driven high upon the ragged rocks. It is amazing to study the folly of men who have departed from the Lord! Almost universally they are conceited up to the very day when they are undone. They think that they are going to recover themselves. Like Ephraim, strangers have devoured their strength, and they know it not: gray hairs are here and there upon them, and yet they know it not. They feed on the wind and follow after the east wind, and daily increase in desolation. They make a covenant with the Assyrians and boast their righteousness as Ephraim did, saying, In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
God can do nothing else with such men than to bring them low; nothing else than to whelm them with sorrow; nothing else than to strike them to the very earth with judgment; for they must be made to see that their condition is not due to circumstances, but to an evil spirit.
Dr. Chapman tells the story of a woman who was seated in Central Park, New York, with her little child playing about her. Suddenly the child was startled by the barking of a dog. In her frightened state she ran into her mothers arms. When the dog ceased his barking she said, Why are you frightened, dear; he is quiet? Oh, yes, I know, mamma; but the bark is still in him.
One thing always being said by unregenerate men is, If I could only remove to a new location; settle myself with new associates, and in new business employment, I would be all right. All right! And yet evil still in you! Better turn over to Gal 5:19-21, and read, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like What one needs is not a change of location, but a change of nature, so that the incoming of the Holy Spirit shall give you the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Such folly is followed only by shame and degradation. The tenth chapter of Hosea illustrates the consequences of Israels conduct.
Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
Their heart is divided: now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the Lord; what then should a king do to us?
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shalt mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
It shall be also carried into Assyria for a present to King Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
It is in My desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.
Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shahnan spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness; in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
In conclusion we pass to
GODS AFFECTION FOR AN UNFAITHFUL PEOPLE
That affection was expressed in undeserved words and acts. God bares His heart here as He has often done before, crying,
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away (Hos 6:4),
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt,
I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them (Hos 11:1; Hos 11:3-4).
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together.
I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city (Hos 11:8-9).
Beloved, one lesson that it seems difficult to learn is thisto remember the goodness of God. One should adopt the custom of thinking upon Divine favor. It is only as we forget the source of our blessings, of every good and perfect gift that we grow indifferent to the grace of our God.
Dr. Torrey says, I was talking one night to one who was apparently most indifferent and hardened. She told me the story of her sin, with seemingly very little sense of shame, and when I urged her to accept Christ, she simply refused. I put a Bible in her hands and asked her to read this verse. She began to read, God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, and before she had finished reading the verse she had broken into tears, softened by the thought of Gods wondrous love to her.
It is a strange thing that more people dont answer temptation as did Joseph,How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
When God executes judgment it is commonly for the purpose of correction. Take the reference in this volume,
Therefore will I return, and take away My com in the time thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will recover My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness,
And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of Mine hand,
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts, And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them,
And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and for gat Me, saith the Lord (Hos 2:9-13).
What is the purpose? He immediately proceeds to tell us, Therefore(God never employs that word without occasionit is the great conjunction with Him.)
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her,
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt (Hos 2:14-15).
Beloved, there is a beneficent purpose when the fiery trial is on. The very whips with which He makes Israels back to bleed are not the expressions of His wrath; but, rather, of His love.
Henry Ward Beecher declares that his father used to make him believe that the end of the rod that he held in his hand was a great deal more painful than the end which he applied to Henry. And the great preacher says, It was a strange mystery to me; but I did believe it, and it seemed a great deal worse to me to be whipped on that account.
It ought to be so with the children of God. I once had in my church a woman who punished her children by vicarious suffering. When they misbehaved at the table she denied herself a meal, and she told me that it broke their hearts.
Would to God that we were as sensitive to the suffering which our sin imposes upon the Heavenly Father, and as sensible concerning the purpose which He has in visiting correction against our sins.
But, after all, God gave best evidence of His affection by,
Keeping for His people an open heart. I like to dwell on the last chapter of this Book,
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; * *
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously (Hos 14:1-2).
And I like to listen to Gods answer to this cry which He Himself seeks to put into their lips,
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (Hos 14:4-6; Hos 14:8).
It is a beautiful picture! It ought to encourage the children whose hearts have departed from the plain paths of privilege in Christ; it ought to incite hope in the heart of the individual who has played the prodigal and paid the penalty.
I like to reflect upon the words of that sweet-spirited man, F. B. Meyer, as he speaks of Gods attitude toward those who turn again to Him, saying,
Be sure that God will give you a hearty welcome. He has not given you up or ceased to love you. He longs for you. Read the last chapter of the Book of Hosea, which may be well called the backsliders gospel. Read the third chapter of Jeremiah, and let the plaintive pleadings to return soak into your spirit. Read the story of Peters fall and restoration, and let your tears fall thick and fast on John 21: as you learn how delicately the Lord forgave, and how generously He entrusted the backslider with His sheep and with His lambs. Be sure that though your repeated failures and sins have worn out every one else, they have not exhausted the infinite love of God. He tells us to forgive our offending brother unto four hundred and ninety times; how much oftener will He not forgive us? According to the height of heaven above the earth, so great is His mercy.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.
Hos. 5:1. Hear] A fresh beginning of reproof, connected with chapter 4, addressed to the priests, the royal family, and the whole kingdom. Judg.] Lit. the judgment announced in preceding chapter. You] Priests and court. Snare] A net laid to entice the people, like birds in a trap. Miz. and Tab.] Noted places, and peculiarly adapted for bird-catching.
Hos. 5:2. Profound] Lit. they have made slaughter deep, i.e. they have sunk deeply into it. Their sacrifices were slaughter, butcheris, and not offerings to God (cf. Isa. 31:6). Some, that the allusion is to deep pits covered over for beasts to fall in. Others give the sense of stretching out (Psa. 101:3). They have deepened to stretch out excesses, i.e. they have gone to great lengths, are deeply sunken in excesses. The ringleaders laid deep designs to ensnare in idolatry, Rebuker] Lit. a rebuke or correction. Gods attributes and conduct had taken the form of rebuke only towards them.
Hos. 5:3. Know] their plans, deceit, and profound cunning (Rev. 2:29). All things are naked and opened to God. Now] Even at the present time, when they forget me. Their wickedness is done in public and is undeniable.
HOMILETICS
NATIONAL SINS AND DIVINE DETECTION.Hos. 5:1-3
In this chapter God proceeds in the same method and carries on the same controversy as before. The kingdoms are first cited and then accused. All ranks are guilty of idolatry and pollutions, of obstinacy and impenitency in guilt. It is not an ordinary challenge, as of one displeased only, but the judicial procedure and sentence of the Supreme Judge. Hear ye this. The words set forth national sins, the Divine detection, and open rebuke of them.
I. The national sins. All ranks are accused: the priests, the rulers, and the people. Though some were enticed by others, that does not render them without excuse. The prophet rebukes all, without respect of persons, and shows how justly God was angry with their sins.
1. The priests were guilty. They used their sacred office and their high position to ensnare the people.
(1.) They corrupted the law of God. They were the depositaries of this sacred trust; were appointed to expound and keep unsullied the truth of God. They had to teach the statutes which the Lord had spoken unto them by Moses (Lev. 10:11). The people inquired from them, and they gave judgment (Deu. 17:9; Deu. 17:11). They were the messengers of the Lord of hosts, and should have preserved knowledge (Mal. 2:7). But instead of feeding the people they starved them, lead them into error and sin. There was neither freshness nor power in their ministry. The science of salvation, the word and the work of God, were not the study of their life. When ministers study and prepare to consume it upon pride and self-confidence; when they seek to please the fancy rather than gain the souls of men; when they grow cold and careless of their own, then they get dull and pitiless concerning the souls of others. Unto them are committed the oracles of God. These oracles they must consult and declare to the people. Their word and doctrine, their life and example, like the breastplate of Aaron, must be a bright reflection of them. The truth of God must not be mixed with human tradition, nor displaced by commandments of men. To teach the law to others and profane it ourselves is mockery.
I venerate the man whose heart is warm,
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof
That he is honest in the sacred cause.
(2.) They corrupted the worship of God. The spirituality of God is a practical truth demanding corresponding spirituality in worship. God has absolute and sole right to prescribe how he will be worshipped. But the history of mankind abundantly proves a disposition in human beings to devise and act for themselves in this respect. In the patriarchal and prophetic periods the worship of God was mixed with idolatry. Heroes and beasts have been deified. The heavens and the earth, the ocean and the air, have been peopled with gods. Even now men are dissatisfied with the simplicity and forgetful of the authority of Divine institutes. Worship is thought to consist in words, forms, and gestures. The body assumes the posture and the lips utter the language of devotion, but often there is neither prayer nor praise. It is sad when the priests of God are guilty of innovation, and teach that fear towards him was taught by the precepts of men (Isa. 29:13). The apostles were exceedingly jealous of any defect, redundancy, or admixture in the worship of God. But Jewish priests debased the institutions and corrupted the law of God. They had embraced and strengthened the idolatry by which they were surrounded, and by apostasy had seduced the people. Their teaching was a snare and their lives a curse.
(3.) They despised the reproof of God. Though I have been a rebuker of them all. God by his prophet and by his providence had sought to correct them in vain. Rebuke after rebuke had been given, forbidding idolatry and urging amendment, but Israel was immersed in sin; kings and priests revolted more and more. God warns his Church and his servants, and gives smaller corrections to reclaim them; but if these are despised, the sin becomes more aggravated and the punishment more severe. Apostates and revolters are often given up to gross superstitions, cruel rites, and deeper courses. They may have ability to adorn and defend their crafty designs, but they will be caught by their own deceits. The rebuke of the formalist is solemn; but to immoral teachers, who make grace a cover for sin, and soundness of creed for rottenness of life, God speaks in thunder. Scribes and Pharisees were openly reproved for rejecting the law and misleading the people. Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
2. The rulers were guilty. Give ye ear, O house of the king. The priest had to teach and the king enforce the law; but king and priest were alike guilty for corrupting it. Both had been crafty and cruel in carrying out their designs, by patronizing idolatry and leading the nation from Jehovah. Monarchs fulfil a high vocation as representatives of God and his law. They should care for the purity of religion and the administration of justice. If they neglect and violate the law, pervert justice, and encourage vice, they are recreant to God, from whom they receive authority and to whom they are responsible. They are not to assume undue authority, but to establish and preserve good and just laws; to govern in wisdom, equity, and love; to punish evil-doers and encourage them that do well. Asa removed wickedness from the throne, and Amaziah punished it with death. Nehemiah was a great reformer, and Alfred the Great a witness for truth in an age of darkness. But the court of Israel was as corrupt as the priesthood. Instead of being benefactors, they were contaminators to their race. Priests in their saintly robes and kings in their royal garbs have oft been foes in human forms; solemn warnings to the ungodly and profane. They are the greatest sinners, in seducing others, and must suffer the severest punishment.
(1.) They enticed to idolatry;
(2.) They enticed to destruction. Judgment is toward you.
3. The People were guilty. Though ensnared by their teachers and princes, they were to blame and had no excuse for their sin. We are to think and act for ourselves. Neither the enticement of the priest nor the terror of the king can force us to do wrong; neither the laws nor the lives of superiors can make us bow down to sin. Like the three Hebrew youths, we should not regard the fashions of the court nor the dictum of the priest. We must not partake of other mens sins lest we share other mens sufferings. Ephraim was duped willingly and therefore inexcusably. He willingly walked after the commandment and was oppressed and broken in judgment (Hos. 5:11).
(1.) The people followed bad examples;
(2.) Voluntarily corrupted themselves by idolatry. National sins are the sum of individual contributions. God here arraigns and condemns all classes in the threefold summons. The privileges of the priest, the dignity of the prince, and the number of the people, cannot excuse and do not exempt them from Divine judgments. Daniel Webster, says Dr Thomas, was once asked, What is the most important thought you ever entertained? He replied after a moments reflection, The most important thought I ever had was my individual responsibility to God. Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.
II. The Divine detection. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me. God intimately knows and observes the conduct of men. His knowledge is without defect and his judgment without error. Nothing can be hid or concealed from him. Men may deceive themselves, think God does not notice them, and vail their ways from others, but the omniscient eye of God penetrates the covering and brings all things to light. By his word and providence he discovers sin, puts it before us in true colours, and warns us to flee from it. All excuses and plausible pretexts are torn away, and the sinner is exposed in nakedness and danger. All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
1. Sin is detected notwithstanding human ingenuity to cover it. Men excuse and plead infirmity and mistake.
(1.) Sin is often covered by ignorance. Ignorance itself is a sin when it can be removed. Ignorance in daily calling is not bliss, for lessened power involves lessened earnings and fewer comforts and conveniences of life. Men always pay for ignorance. They cannot justify themselves when they sin against light and truth. Ministers will not be able to plead at last, We knew it not. They should watch for souls as those that must give account.
(2.) Sin is often covered by cunning craft. Jewish leaders were crafty in their designs and deep in their schemes. They pretended friendship and goodwill, but they were snares and nets to the people (Ecc. 7:26). Their rulers with great subtlety laid hold of Israels love for idols and reverence for their ancestors, and sought to replace the presence of God by the symbols of nature. Around the worship of Baal were gathered the rites of Moses. The services were decked out and adorned with feasts and fasts, instrumental music and songs; upheld by tithes, by civil authority, by prophet, priest, and king. Leaders sought to please that they might ruin; to flatter that they might devour; but God taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
2. Sin is detected notwithstanding State policy to uphold it. In Israel selfish interests were put before eternal; policy before principle; and the welfare of the State must be upheld though the people be ruined. In these modern days expediency is often put before morality, State revenues before virtue, and immorality sanctioned by legislators and teachers. We shall do well to heed what a writer says concerning England. We may succeed for a time by fraud, by surprise, by violence, but we can succeed permanently only by means directly opposite. It is not alone the courage, the intelligence, the activity of the merchant and manufacturer which maintain the superiority of their productions and the character of their country; it is far more their wisdom, their economy, and above all their probity. If ever in the British Islands the useful citizen should lose these virtues, we may be sure that, for England, as for every other country, the vessels of a degenerate commerce, repulsed from every shore, would speedily disappear from those seas whose surface they now cover with the treasures of the universe, bartered for the treasures of the industry of the three kingdoms. Religion raises, strengthens, and dignifies a nation. Its industry and civilization depend upon true character and not false policy. Even in war Napoleon said the moral was ten to one to the physical. State policy is often State folly and God-dishonouring policy. It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness, for the throne is established by righteousness.
III. The solemn call. Hear ye this.
1. A universal call. A call to all classes in Israel to hear and consider their ways.
2. An urgent call. For judgment is toward you. The judges are summoned before the Judge of judges and the King of kings. This is a matter that must be attended to. All ranks are guilty when God has a controversy with a nation.
3. A present call. Hear and repent now; delays are dangerous. Now is the accepted time. Indifference, moral insensibility, are seen on every hand. Ignorance, carelessness, and opposition to the gospel abound. The authority of the caller, and the interests at stake, urge attention to the message: Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Kings and priests snares to the people, by erroneous doctrine, fraudulent counsels, evil example, and subtle edicts, and by employing exalted position to lead astray.
Men-trapperstheir motive, efforts, pretences, and punishment. Why not attack openly? Why plot and scheme? Because subtlety is the nature of sin and the serpent, and most likely to succeed. Great ill is an achievement of great powers. Plain sense but rarely leads us far astray.
Silly peopleled astray; like beasts and birds, always exposed and easily overcome by the snare of the fowler. We are foolish and weak, and apt to be lured to destruction by cunning foes. Hence the need of (a) watchfulness, (b) prayer, and (c) dependence upon God.
Cunning policy.
1. Most impudent.
2. Most guilty.
3. Most degrading.
4. Most ruinous.
Hear ye this. Preachers should rebuke the sins of rulers as well as those of subjects, so that they bear not the guilt of the souls that are lost, whose blood God will require at their hands [Lange].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Hos. 5:1-3. Inferiors are very apt to be formed up according to the mould and manners of those above them. The example of kings and princes are seldom unconformed to by their subjects. There is a great power in example; what is done persuades, as well as what is spoken. And the errors of those that rule, become rules of error; men sin with a kind of authority, through the sins of those who are in authority. Jeroboam made Israel to sin, not only by commanding them to worship the calves at Dan and Bethel, but by commending that idolatrous worship to them in his own practice and example [Caryl].
The common people are like tempered wax, easily receiving impressions from the seals of great mens vices; they care not to sin by prescription, and damn themselves with authority [Harding].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
ISRAELS INGRATITUDEREBELLION AND TRANSGRESSION
TEXT: Hos. 5:1-7
1
Hear this, O ye priests, and hearken, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for unto you pertaineth the judgment; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
2
And the revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all.
3
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, O Ephraim, thou hast played the harlot, Israel is defiled.
4
Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Jehovah.
5
And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them.
6
They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find him: he hath withdrawn himself from them.
7
They have dealt treacherously against Jehovah; for they have borne strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields.
QUERIES
a.
Why did Hosea direct his prophecy to the priests and king?
b.
How did their doings keep them from turning to God?
c.
Why did God withdraw from them when they sought Him? Hos. 5:6
PARAPHRASE
Listen to this, you priests and members of the royal family who dearly love shame; you are doomed! You have enticed the whole nation, east and west of the Jordan, and they have been trapped like birds in your net of sin. These rebellious people are deeply sunken in excesses; but I, Jehovah, will punish them all because their idolatrous conduct is fully known to me. The demoniacal power of idolatry and its consequent immoral excesses has taken complete possession of their thoughts and actions, and stifled every vestige of knowledge of God. The spirit of promiscuity and anarchy is in their hearts and they refuse to know Jehovah. Israels arrogance and pride will soon be shown to be vain when God brings her to shame. And because Judah has consorted with her, she too will be brought to shame. The offering of sacrifices will be no help to them. God has withdrawn Himself from hearing their prayers. Their sacrifices are not offered with penitent hearts. This is evident from the rebellion and idolatry of this generation of Israelites. Therefore their hypocritical sacrifices, instead of bringing salvation, will bring upon them ruin and destruction.
SUMMARY
The leaders have enmeshed the people in a net of moral excesses and rebellion. The people are pleased to have it so and refuse to have God in their knowledge. Pride and hypocritical worship testifies that their destruction by God is inevitable.
COMMENT
Hos. 5:1 HEAR THIS, O YE PRIESTS . . . AND . . . HOUSE OF THE KING . . . UNTO YOU PERTAINETH . . . JUDGMENT . . . When the light of truth begins to flicker and fade, invariably the social and religious leadership is at fault. Men who propose to lead others face an awesome responsibility toward truth and morality. They are charged not only with proclaiming the dogmas of truth but with practicing them! (cf. Jas. 3:1 ff; Rom. 2:1 ff). But not only this, both priest and king were charged with enforcing certain moral standards according to law, This, to certain degrees, is still the responsibility of civil government today. Since their responsibility is so great and their sin of trapping the populace in excess so heinous, the wrath of God is directed at these leaders first and foremost.
The king of Hoseas day was either Zechariah or Menahem; possibly both, since Hosea prophesied in both reigns. However, Hoseas reference to making a military alliance with Assyria (Hos. 5:13) refers to Menahem (2Ki. 15:19-20). Both of these were wicked kings. Mizpah (Ramah-Mizpah of Gilead) and Tabor are both wooded mountains representing east and west of the Jordan, respectively, thus typifying the whole populace of the nation of Israel. The fact that they were wooded hills makes them noted as places peculiarly adapted for bird-trapping.
Hos. 5:2 AND THE REVOLTERS ARE GONE DEEP IN MAKING SLAUGHTER . . . Ephraim (Israel) is deeply sunken in excesses. Delitzsch translates the phrase literally, they understand from the very foundation how to spread out transgressions. In other words, they have studied or gone to great lengths to learn how to become more indulgent, more lascivious, (cf. Isa. 31:6). God rebuked them time and time again, through His law, through the prophets, through natural catastrophes, but their revolt was deeply embedded in their hearts, and they were deeply sunken in the mire of their immoralities. There is nothing left now for God to do but to give them up to total destruction and ruin.
Hos. 5:3 I KNOW EPHRAIM . . . THOU HAST PLAYED THE HARLOT . . . God was all too well aware of the unfaithfulness of Israel. His heart was broken; their rottenness sickened Him. Be sure your sin will find you out (Num. 32:23)!
Hos. 5:4 THEIR DOINGS WILL NOT SUFFER THEM TO TURN UNTO THEIR GOD . . . What they were doing took possession of them. When a man yields the mind and the members of his body to sin, he becomes a slave to that to which he has yielded (cf. Rom. 6:12-23). When one allows himself to be enslaved to falsehood and immoral deeds he at the same time, permits himself to be blinded to truth and goodness. Men love darkness because their deeds are evil (Joh. 3:18-21) and they refuse to come to the light of truth lest their evil deeds be exposed for what they really arevain, useless, degrading, etc. It was the same spirit of harlotry that possessed them as is referred to in Hos. 4:12 (see our comments there).
Hos. 5:5 AND THE PRIDE OF ISRAEL DOTH TESTIFY TO HIS FACE . . . K & D interpret the pride of Israel as the glory of IsraelJehovah God. Thus they make God testify to the face of Israel. Lange and Pussey both interpret the phrase simplyIsraels arrogant pride. We prefer the last for it seems to suit the context better. Israel is like those of whom Paul wrote, claiming to be wise, they became fools . . . they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened . . . haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil . . . (cf. Rom. 1:18 ff). Pride goeth before a fall. Pride was the very snare of the devil (1Ti. 3:6-7). Amo. 6:8 shows how the excellency (pride) of Jacob was the cause of her sin and how abhorrent such pride was to God. Remember that God told Edom the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, (Obadiah Hos. 5:3). So, Israel, will soon know how foolish her pride and haughtiness was. Soon Israels insolence will be changed to shame and regret when Gods wrath is poured out. Then will her pride testify to her face that all her arrogance was futile, vain and shameful.
Judah, too, will be brought to the same shame. Hosea warned Judah (Hos. 4:15) not to take part in Ephraims idolatry. Evidently Judah did not heed the warning and became a partaker in Israels guilt (cf. Jer. 3:6-11).
The Russian communist Zinonieff boasted: We shall grapple with the Lord God. In due time we shall vanquish him from the highest Heaven, and where he seeks refuge, we shall subdue him forever. What arrogance, what insolence! American theologians, however, have gone him one better! They have declared God is dead; they have held requiem chorales in honor of his death! This, if anything, is worse than insolence! How longsuffering the mercy of the Omnipotent God! It is a marvel of love and grace that He has not consumed such proud and boastful men with fire as He did of old.
Hos. 5:6 THEY SHALL GO WITH THEIR FLOCKS . . . TO SEEK JEHOVAH; BUT THEY SHALL NOT FIND HIM . . . These hypocrites, when disaster seems ready to strike, will bring thousands of lambs to the places of sacrifices, and gallons of oil (cf. Mic. 6:6-8), but they will have left off the weighter matters of the law, mercy, righteousness and justice. Their sacrifices will not be offered with penitent hearts, or in faith. Their worship will be ritualistic, from hearts sunken deep in sin, wishing only to be saved in their sins, not saved from their sins. God will not honor such worship for the simple reason such worship does not honor Him, He will not hear their prayers for the simple reason such prayers are not directed to Him. Isaiah had a great deal to say about such sham worship (cf. Isa. 1:10-20). It is not the trampling of the courts of God that counts with Him so much as willingness and obedience (Isa. 1:19). These were a people who honored God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him (cf. Isa. 29:13-16; Mat. 15:1-20).
Hos. 5:7 THEY HAVE DEALT TREACHEROUSLY AGAINST JEHOVAH . . . The word translated treacherously is bagad which means to act faithlessly and is frequently applied to the infidelity of a wife towards her husband. We are not surprised that Hosea would use such a word. Gomer acted treacherously toward Hosea when she deserted him for her paramours. Israel acted like that toward her husband, God, when she went off after her idols. Such idolatry, from the very beginning of the nation under Jeroboam, has produced generation after generation of strange children (idolaters).
Israel should have produced generation after generation of children worshipping the Lord God in spirit and truth. Quite to the contrary, however, each generation became more idolatrous and immoral than the next, They retained just enough of the Mosaic forms of worship to ease their hypocritical hearts and salve their conscience. But, says God, your hypocritical worship is not going to save youno, it is going to bring about your destruction. This is the meaning of the phrase, now shall the new moon devour them . . .
QUIZ
1.
Why do those who propose to be leaders of Gods people face an awesome task?
2.
How deeply were the people involved in their sin?
3.
Why were these Israelites not able to turn to God?
4.
Why is pride dangerous? How does it bring men to shame?
5.
Why would Israels sacrifices not be noticed by God?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) House of the king refers to his following on both sides of the JordanMizpah on the east side, in Gilead, and Tabor on the west. They are singled out as being military strongholds, where the princes of the royal house, with the apostate priests, exercised their deadly hold upon the people, waylaying them, as birds and beasts are snared in the mountains of prey. (Comp. Hos. 6:8-9.)
Judgment is toward you.More accurately, is meant for you.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Rebuke of Israel’s apostasy, Hos 5:1-7.
Hos 5:1 opens with a summons.
Priests Already condemned in chapter 4.
House of Israel The people.
House of the king The king and his courtiers. Toward [“unto”] Not all three classes, but only the leaders, as 1b indicates.
Judgment Not judicial powers, but the sentence of judgment about to be uttered. So, margin, “against you is the judgment.”
Because The reason for the judgment. They have caused the people to stumble. The latter are compared to unsuspecting birds, which fly to the places where they may expect to find shelter; instead they are cruelly trapped.
Mizpah Probably Mizpah in Gilead (Jdg 10:17; Jdg 11:11), the same as Ramoth-gilead (Jos 20:8; 2Ki 9:1, etc.) now es-Salt.
Tabor The well-known mountain of that name, east of Nazareth, in Galilee. Some have thought that these localities represent the territory east and west of the Jordan respectively, the combination of the two indicating that the wrongdoing of the leaders covered the whole land. It is more likely, however, that the two places are mentioned because there the immoral practices connected with the cult were most dangerously seductive.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Hear this, O you priests,
And listen, O house of Israel,
And give ear, O house of the king,
For to you pertains the judgment,
For you have been a snare at Mizpah,
And a net spread on Tabor.’
The call comes to priests, people and royal house to listen to what YHWH has to say. All are involved. The word rendered ‘judgment’ can mean either ‘justice, the carrying out of what is right’ or ‘judgment’ in our normal use of the term. Thus some see ‘to you pertains justice’ as a reminder to them, and especially to the royal house and the priests, that it was their responsibility to ensure the maintenance of justice and the carrying out of what was right, something which they had failed to do in the religious sphere where they had rather set a snare and a trap for the people. Others see ‘to you pertains judgment’ as indicating that all Israel, including its leadership, is to be judged by YHWH. Either interpretation is possible, but it may well be that Hosea had both ideas in mind because if they have not carried out what is right, (and have as a result been a snare to Israel) they are certainly liable to judgment. In a country like Israel’s ‘carrying out what is right’ would include doing so religiously as well as in ‘secular’ life. Thus it included the need to keep the religion of the people pure.
But instead of encouraging what was right they have been like bird hunters on Mizpah and Tabor, (two eminences where there would be many birds available to be hunted), setting snares and traps for the people by leading them astray. All the males who heard Hosea would probably have had memories of hunting for birds, and setting snares for them, in the mountains, and would have been able to picture the helpless birds struggling in the hands of their captors. It was a salutary thought that this was what they were like themselves. Furthermore Tabor was in the far north west of the country, and if the Mizpah (fortress, watchtower) was the well known Mizpah of Gilead in Transjordan, the two might well have been seen as including within their compass the whole of Israel on both sides of the Jordan, including all Israel in the indictment as a consequence.
Tabor was a mountain conjoining the northern tribes of Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali in the north west, north of the Valley of Jezreel, thus bringing into account the distant tribal areas. Mizpah (fortress, watchtower, and therefore a popular name for a town), was a name given to a number of towns. Most well known (certainly to us) was the Mizpah which was one of the centres where Samuel carried out his official duties, (the others being Bethel and Gilgal – 1Sa 7:16). This was in the territory of Benjamin in the central highlands. It was where the army gathered in the days of the Judges (Jdg 20:1; Jdg 20:3; Jdg 21:1; Jdg 21:5; Jdg 21:8; 1Sa 7:5-6). But there were also a number of other Mizpahs including a well known Mizpah in Gilead in Transjordan (Jdg 10:17; Jdg 11:11; Jdg 11:29; Jdg 11:34 and possibly Jos 13:26).
Other have argued that Tabor and Mizpah were mentioned because they were cultic centres where Baalism flourished, and it may well be true that they were cultic centres, for most towns would probably have been cultic centres, in the same way as such centres proliferated on the mountains. But that is not to be seen as the main reason for their mention here, for as cultic centres they were nothing exceptional. They were presumably mentioned, either because they were well known places for snaring birds, or because they represented the whole of Israel, or both.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Judgment Is Announced On The Priests, People And Royal House Of Israel Because Of Their Going Astray In Their Ritual, Something Which Has Prevented Them From Turning To YHWH And Has Made Them Unacceptable To Him, And The Consequence Will Be That They Will Be Devoured ( Hos 5:1-7 ).
Hosea now involves every section of society, including royalty, in their ‘going against YHWH’, and points out that what they are is known to YHWH. On the other hand their behaviour and attitudes have been so affected by their false ritual that they have reached a position where they themselves do not really know God as He is, and therefore cannot turn to Him. As a consequence when they do seek Him it will be in vain, because He has withdrawn Himself from them as a result of their behaviour and the consequences that result from it, children with no natural families. As a consequence their new moon will not be a time of celebration and feasting, but will rather be a time when their land portions given to them by YHWH are ‘devoured’.
Analysis of Hos 5:1-7 .
a
b For you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor (Hos 5:1 b).
c And those who err are gone deep in slaughter, and I am a chastener of them all (Hos 5:2).
d I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me, for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot, Israel is defiled (Hos 5:3).
e Their doings will not allow them to turn to their God, for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they do not know YHWH (Hos 5:4).
d And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity, Judah also will stumble with them (Hos 5:5).
c They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek YHWH, but they will not find him. He has withdrawn himself from them (Hos 5:6).
b They have dealt treacherously against YHWH, for they have borne strange children (Hos 5:7 a).
a Now will the new moon devour them with their fields (or ‘portions’) (Hos 5:7 b).
Note that in ‘a’ judgment is to be exercised against the priests, people and royalty of Israel, and in the parallel their allotted portions are to be devoured. In ‘b the leadership have been a snare and net to all Israel, and in the parallel they have dealt treacherously against YHWH. In ‘c’ their erring leaders have indulged in huge (false) sacrifices, with the result that YHWH will chasten them, and in the parallel they will take their flocks and herds to seek YHWH (by offering sacrifices) and will find that He has withdrawn Himself from them. In ‘d’ Ephraim and Israel are not hid from Him, and are defiled, and in the parallel reference is made to the pride of Israel and Ephraim through which they will be caused to stumble, along with Judah. Central in ‘e’ is the fact that their behaviour and attitude prevents them turning to God with the result that they do not know YHWH.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
ISRAEL’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH IDOLS AND WITH ASSYRIA IS NOW DEPICTED AND WARNINGS GIVEN OF WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCE FOR THEM, AND THIS TOGETHER WITH A REMINDER THAT IF THEY RETURN TO HIM HE CAN PROVIDE ALL THAT BAAL PROVIDES AND MORE ( Hos 4:1 to Hos 6:3 ).
Having illustrated Israel’s position in terms of an adulterous and unfaithful wife, Hosea now charges Israel more directly with their sins, and warns them of what the consequences will be if they do not repent and turn back to YHWH. These words were probably mainly spoken during the earlier phases of his ministry in the times of Jeroboam II and Menahem.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Accusation Against the Priests
v. 1. Hear ye this, O priests, v. 2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, v. 3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me, v. 4. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God, v. 5. And the pride of Israel, v. 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, v. 7. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Hos 5:1
Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king. The persons here addressed comprise all the estates of the realmpriests, people, and princes. The house of Israel is the northern kingdom; and the house of the king is the members of the king’s family, of his court and of his government. Thus the rulers and the ruled, the spiritual teachers and the taught, are comprehended in this address. Neither priestly office, nor popular power, nor princely dignity was to be exempted. But, though all are summoned to give audience, the heads of the people, the men of light and leading, are first arraigned. For judgment is toward you, as the clause is correctly rendered; not, “it devolves on you to maintain judgment,” as some understand it. It had, indeed, been the province of the priest to teach, and of the king to execute the judgments of God in Israel; but now they are themselves the subjects of judgment. Judgment was now to begin at the house of the king and of the priest; God was about to execute judgment upon themthe judgment from that judgment-seat where justice never miscarries, and where no mistake is ever made. The cause of this is assigned. Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. Instead of being safeguards of the people, they had been a snare to them; instead of being true leaders, as God had intended them, they had misled them; instead of contributing to their security, they had seduced them to sin and so helped to prepare them for destruction; they had been a snare to entrap and a net to entangle. East as well as west of the Jordan their evil influence had wrought ruin. Mizpah, now es-Salt, was on the east of the river among the hills of Gilead, where Jacob and Laban entered into covenant; Tabor, like a solitary cone or sugar-loaf, rises up from the plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon, on the west of the river. On the wooded slopes of Tabor and the beacon-hill of Mizpah game, no doubt, abounded and found covert, and hence the origin of the figure here used; but they had probably become scenes of idolatry or wickedness.
Hos 5:2
And the revolters are profound to make slaughter (or, profuse in murders or in sacrifices, or in dealing corruptly), though I have been a rebuker of them all (rather, but I am [bent upon] chastisement for them all). The literal rendering of the first clause is, slaughtering they have made deep, which is an idiom analogous to “they have deeply revolted;” literally, “they have made revolting deep” (Isa 31:6). The slaughtering, though understood by Wunsche of sacrifices, is rather meant of the destruction and carnage which the revolters caused to the people. Rashi explains it literally in this way: “I said, Every one that goes not up to the stated feasts transgresses a positive precept; but they decree that every one who goes up to the stated feasts shall be slain.” This seems to imply that liers-in-wait were set probably on Mizpah and Tabor, the places mentioned in the preceding verse, to slay the Israelites that were found going up to the feasts at Jerusalem. Aben Ezra, taking this second verse as continuing the sentiment of the first, interprets as follows: “Ye have been a snare on Mizpah that ye might not allow them to go up to the feasts to the house of the Lord; and to slay (victims) in the usual way.” The revolters or apostates he takes to be the worshippers of Baal. “They made deep,” he adds in his exposition, “the snares, those that are mentioned, that passers-by might not see them; but I will chastise all of them for this evil which they have done, since it is not hidden from me why they have hid (made) it so deep.” The slaughtering is thus understood by Aben Ezra of slaying the sacrificial victims. Similarly Kimchi interprets thus: “He says that the revolters who are the worshippers of idols, who depart from the ways of Godblessed be he!and kern his service, like a woman who is a revolter from under her husband, have made deep their revolt, slaying and sacrificing to idols.” lie would understand the slaughtering neither of victims with Kimchi and Aben Ezra; nor of literally slaying Israelites to prevent persons going up to Jerusalem, the proper seat of Jehovah’s worship; but of the destructive consequences which the conduct of these apostates brought on the people. The work of chastisement God now takes in hand in good earnest. Droppings of the coming shower there had been; but now the full flood is to descend, for God presents himself to misleaders and misled alike under the sole aspect of rebuke. “I,” he says, “am chastisement” (give myself to it). A like form of expression occurs in Psa 109:4, “I am prayer;” that is, am a man of prayer, or give royal. If to prayer. Thus Kimchi explains the idiom: “The prophet says, Say not that no man shall correct and reprove them, therefore they sin; for I am the person who reproves them all, and day by day I reprove them, but they will not hearken to me. But raani moser wants the word ish, man, as (in Psa 109:4) raani tephilah, which we have explained raani ish tephilah.”
Hos 5:3
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me. All attempts at concealment are vain, though sinners try ever so much to hide their sins from the Divine Majesty. However deep they dig downward, God will bring their evil doings up and out to the light of day and punish them. For now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. Israel is the northern kingdom, and Ephraim, being the most powerful tribe, is often identified with Israel; here, however, they are distinguishedIsrael is the kingdom as a whole, and Ephraim is its leading tribe. This powerful tribe, ever envious of Judah, was the ringleader in the calf worship of Jeroboam and other idolatries; and through Ephraim’s evil influence the other tribes, and so all Israel, were defiled.
Hos 5:4
In this verse their evil doings are traced to an evil spirit of whoredoms that is, of idolatries, which impels them blindly and resistlessly to evil, while at the same time it expels the knowledge of God. The first clause is differently rendered. The textual rendering of the Authorized Version, viz. they will not frame (literally, give, direct) their doings to turn unto their God, denotes their total and absolute refusal to repent or to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. The actions are an index of the state of the heart, but neither the thoughts of Israel at this time, nor their deeds which indicated these thoughts, were in the direction of repentance. In heart and life they were impenitent. This rendering is supported by most of the Hebrew commentators. Rashi says, “They forsake not their evil way;” Aben Ezra,” They perform not works so as to turn.” Kimchi also gives an alternative sense: “Or the sense of the words is thus: They cling so closely to their evil works, that even should they for once conceive in their heart the idea of turning, they immediately repent them of it.” The marginal rendering also yields a good sense; it is, Their doings will not suffer (allow) [them] to turn unto their God. The pronominal suffix for “them” is wanting, yet it may be dispensed with, as the appending of it to “doings” and “God” makes the sense sufficiently explicit. It is favored by Ewald, Keil, the Targum, and Kimchi, who explains: “Their evil works do not allow them to return to their God, as if he said, To such extent have they multiplied transgression that there is no way left them to return, until they receive their punishment.” Such and so great was the power of their evil habits that they could not break them off or break away from them by repentance; or so intimately connected is a change of heart with a change of life that, in the absence of the latter, the former is impossible. According to either rendering, the reason assigned is contained in the next clause: For the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. So overmastered were they, as though by some fiendish spirit that held them in check and exercised despotic power over them, that they rushed headlong down the steep incline, like the Gadarene herd of swine, which, when the unclean spirits entered into them, ran violently down a steep place into the sea. Neither was there any counteracting force to turn them back or reverse their course. Such a force might have been found in the knowledge of God, of his covenant mercy, of his power, love, grace, and goodrich. But this was wanting, and the absence of this knowledge at once increased their impenitence and aggravated their guilt. It was Israel’s privilege and Israel’s duty to know the Lord; for he had revealed himself to them as to no other nation; he had given them his Law, he had made them depositaries of his truth and the conservators of his living oracles; their ignorance, therefore, was altogether inexcusable, while it evinced greatest ingratitude to Jehovah, who had taken them into covenant with himself, and declared himself to be their God.
Hos 5:5
And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face. This may be understood
(1) of Jehovah, who was Israel’s glory, as we read in Amo 7:7 of “the excellency of Israel.” This explanation suits at once the sense and the context. They knew not God, notwithstanding the special advantages they enjoyed for that knowledge; they had no liking to the knowledge of’ Go,], they did not concern themselves about it; and now Jehovah, who should have been their excellency and glory, but who had been thus slighted by them, will testify against them and bear witness to their face by judgments. But
(2) another interpretation recommends itself as equally or more suitable. This interpretation understands “pride” more simply to mean the prosperous state and flourishing condition of which Israel was proud, or rather, perhaps, the haughtiness of Israel, owing to those very circumstances of worldly wealth and greatness. This vain pride and self-exaltation was the great obstacle in the way of their turning to the Lord. If this sense of the word be accepted, the verb had better be rendered” humbled,” a meaning which it often has; thus, “humbled shall be the pride of Israel to his face” (that is, in his own sight). Such is the translation of the LXX.: , “The pride of Israel shall be brought low before his face;” while the Chaldee translates similarly, “The glory of Israel shall be humbled while they see it;” the Syriac has, “The pride of Israel shall be humbled in his presence,” or before his eyes. Aben Ezra also takes the idea of the verb to be humiliation or depression; while Kimchi takes gaon not so much in the sense of the inward feeling, as of those outward circumstances that promoted ittheir greatness and grandeur and glory; and, alluding to the words of the Chaldee rendering, “in their sight,” he says, “While they are still in their land before their captivity, they shall perceive their humiliation and degradation, instead of the glory which they had at the beginning.” Kimchi, however, as well as most other commentators, seems to have understood the verb in the sense of “testify;” thus, “Israel’s pride will testify to his face, when he shall take upon him its punishment.” Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. Pride usually goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. The consequence of Israel’s pride was the fall here mentioned. The ten tribes composing the northern kingdom fell into gross and grievous sin, and therefore also into long-suffering and sore sorrow. Even Ephraim, that tribe pre-eminent for power as for pride, and the perpetual rival of Judah, shall fall as well as and with the rest. Judah also, that is, Judah proper, and Benjamin, participating in the same evil course, fell like Israel into sin, and, though more than a century later, into ruin.
In verses 6-10 the prophet details the unavailing and ineffectual efforts of Israel to avert, or at least escape from, the threatened judgments.
Hos 5:6
They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord. In this way they attempt to break, if not pro-vent, their fall. With numerous and costly sacrifices they endeavor to propitiate Jehovah. With sheep and goats out of their flocks, and with bullocks and heifers out of their herd, they try to make reparation for the past or to secure present and future favor. But in vain. Israel might go to Bethel and Judah to Jerusalem; but to no purpose. They shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself. Their repentance came too late; or when it did come it wanted sincerity; or it was a wrong motive which prompted itfear of approaching calamity and not love to their Creator; or their sins ran parallel with their sacrifice. Forgetting that obedience is better than sacrifice, they cherished a disobedient spirit or continued in their course of disobedience notwithstanding their outward sacrificial service. For one cause or other they fail in their efforts to find him; for, instead of being a present help in time of trouble, he has withdrawn beyond their reach; he has removed the Shechinah-glory of his presence from among them; or he has loosed himself from all those ties that once bound him in mercy to them, just as a husband frees himself from all responsibilities and disarms all liabilities on behalf of a faithless partner whom he has been forced to divorce. And such is the specific reason assigned in the next verse.
Hos 5:7
They have dealt treacherously against the Lord: for they have begotten strange children. This may refer to inter. marriages with idolaters, when the offspring of such forbidden unions departed still further from the worship of Jehovah; or the children of godless Jewish parents reflected yet more the wicked works and ways of such parents. In consequence of the infidelity of the wife, the children were not the offspring of lawful wedlock or conjugal union; in other words, they were children of whoredoman adulterous generation. Lord’s infidelity to the holy covenant had as its result a graceless, godless racechildren strange and supposititions in the spiritual sense. Now shall a month devour them with their portions. If
(1) “month” be the right rendering, it is a note of time like “the day of the Lord;” and the sense is that a short time shall see the end of themnot only of their persons, but their properties, that is, their hereditary portions in Palestine. But
(2) if “new moon” be the correct translation, the new moon, or sacrificial feasts celebrated at that season, will only rut,, not relieve, them. Their sinful sacrifices and vain oblations, on which they now placed their reliance, will procure, not their salvation, but perdition.
Hos 5:8, Hos 5:9
Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah. Intimation had been given in the preceding verse that the period of their fast-approaching destruction was at hand; that, as Kimchi expresses it, the now moon would soon come at which their enemies would destroy them. Now he pictures them as already on the march, and just advancing to execute the work of destruction; while the terror and alarm consequent thereon are here presented with great vividness, but at the same time with much brevity. A similar scene is depicted at full length by Isa 10:28-32, where the line of the Assyrians’ march seems to be indicated, if, indeed, it be not a poetic representation of it, which the prophet gives. Thus from Aiath (el-Tell) to the pass of Michmash, now Mukmas, where he lays up his baggage; forward to Gobs, where they quarter for the night; then on to Nob, where he halts in sight at the holy city, and scarce an hour’s march distant. The alarm was to be sounded with the shophar, or far-sounding cornet, made of curved horn, and the chatsotserah, or straight trumpet, made of brass or silver, used in war or at festivals. This signal of hostile invasion was to he sounded in Gibeah, now Tuleil-el-Ful, some four miles north of Jerusalem, and in Ramah, now er-Ram, two miles further distant. Both these towns, situated on eminences, as the names denote, belong to the northern boundary of Benjamin. The overthrow of the northern kingdom is rims presented as an already accomplished fact; while the invading host has already reached the frontier of the southern kingdom. Cry aloud at Beth-avon, after thee, O Benjamin. This cry is the sound at’ the war-signals already mentioned, and the repetition intensifies the nature of the alarm and the urgency of the case. Beth-avon was either Bethel, now Beitin, on the border of Benjamin, or a town nearer Michmash, belonging to Benjamin. The meaning of the somewhat obscure words in the concluding clause can give little trouble, when read in the light of the context. The sounding of the alarm of war indicates with tolerable plainness what was coming behind Benjamin; nor is there need to supply the words, “the enemy rises behind thee,” with same, or” the sword rages behind thee,” with others. The signals announce the foe as arrived at the frontier of Judah. The enemy is close behind thee, Benjamin, in close pursuit after thee, upon thy very heels. Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke. The day of rebuke is the season when God rebukes sin by punishment; the punishment in this case is no slight rebuke or temporary chastisement. On the contrary, it is extreme in severity and final in duration. Famine, or pestilence, or war might lay a country desolate for a time, and yet relief might soon ensue and recuperative power be vigorously developed. Not so here. Ephraim is made more than desolate partially and for a short period; it becomes a desolation”an entire desolation,” as the words literally mean. In this desolation the other tribes would be involved. Nor was the menace lightly to be regarded or treated as meaningless; it was firmwell grounded as the word of the Eternal, and irreversible as his decree.
Hos 5:10
The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound. The individual who had the temerity to remove his neighbor’s landmark was not only guilty of a great sin, but obnoxious to a grievous curse. Thus Deu 19:14, “Thou shall not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance;” and again Deu 27:17, “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.” The removal of the landmark characterizes the conduct of men entirely regardless of the rights of othersutterly reckless. The Jewish nobles, the king’s ministers and high officers of state, are compared to those who remove the landmark, disregarding alike what was due to their fellow-men and to their God. The Jewish commentators differ in their exposition between tact and figuresome of them taking the removal of the boundary as a matter of fact, the caph being for confirmation; thus D. Kimchi; while I. Kimchi explains it of the rejection of the appeal for justice against removers of landmarks; others understanding it figuratively, and the whole as expressing general lawlessness, thus Rashi: “Like a man who removes his neighbor’s landmark, just so they hasten to hold fast the ways of Israel their neighbors according to the literal sense, They grasped at the fields; but this, in my opinion, is harsh, for then the prophet must have written merely , and not .” Similarly Aben Ezra: “They exercise violence towards those who are in their power, whilst they are like those who secretly remove the landmark.” The people of Judah had also sinned, and, like Israel in sin, they resemble them in suffering. Therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. The word “wrath” here is from a root which signifies “to overflow;” it is thus the overflowing of Divine indignation; while the outpouring thereof denotes the full flood of wrath that will overwhelm those lawless leaders of a misguided and misgoverned people. The execution of the threatening was reserved for the Assyrians. who, under Tiglath-pileser and Sennacherib, invaded and laid waste the land. And yet those judgments, though so severe and plentiful, were not to end in total and lasting devastation as in the case of Israel. The following verses 11-15 teach the inevitable nature of the judgments that were coming upon both Israel and Judah, and from which no earthly power could deliver them. The only relief possible depended on their seeking God in the day of their distress.
Hos 5:11
Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment. The expression retsuts mishpat is
(1) by some explained, “crushed by the judgment,” that is, of God, according to which mishpat would be the genitive of the agent as mukkeh Elohim. But “crushed of judgment” or in judgment is justly preferred by others, the genitive taking the place of the accusative. Again, though the combination of ashuq with rutsuts is frequent, occurring as early as Deu 28:33, the latter is the stronger term. The oppression is
(2) not that which their own kings and princes practiced upon their subjects, according to Aben Ezra, “Their kings oppressed and cheated them;” nor the injustice practiced by the people of Ephraim among themselves, as implied by the LXX; “Ephraim altogether prevailed against his adversary, he trod judgment underfoot.” The reference
(3) is rather to Ephraim being oppressed and crushed in judgment by the heathen nations around; thus Rashi explains, “Oppressed is Ephraim ever by the hand of the heathenchastised with chastisements;” so also Kimchi, “By the hand of the heathen who oppressed and crushed them through hard judgments.” The construction is asyndetous, like So Ezr 2:11, “The rain is over, is gone.” Because he willingly walked after the commandment. This clause assigns the reason of Ephraim’s oppression. They evinced ready willing-hood in following
(1) the commandments of men instead of the commandments of God. Tsav is thus understood by Aben Ezra, and in like manner Ewald explains it to mean an arbitrary or self-imposed precept. The LXX.
(2) seem to have read , equivalent to , vanity, translating, “for he began to go after vanities ( );” which the Chaldee and Syriac fellow. But
(3) it is rather the commandment of Jeroboam about the worship of the calves which lay at the root of the nation’s sin. It is welt explained by Kimchi: “Although the word ‘Jeroboam’ is wanting, so that he makes no mention of it after tsav, such is the scriptural usage in certain places, i.e. to omit a word where the sense is plain. For it was a well-known fact that in that generation they walked not after the commandment, but after that of Jeroboam; therefore he has abbreviated the word to indicate the worthlessness, and used tsav instead of mitsvah.” Perhaps it may have the concrete sense of the object of idolatrous worship.
Hos 5:12
Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. This verse is well explained by Calvin as follows: “The meaning of the prophet is by no means obscure, and that is, that the Lord would by a slow corrosion consume both the people; and that, though he would not by one onset destroy them, yet they would pine away until they became wholly rotten.” The two agents of destruction here namedthe moth which eats away clothes, and the woodworm which gnaws away woodfiguratively represent slow but sure destruction. They are found together in Job 13:28. Kimchi explains the sense in like manner: “Like the moth which eats away garments, and like the woodworm which consumes bones and wood, so shall I consume you.” The pronoun at the beginning of the verse is emphatic: “I your God, who would have been your protector and preserver, whom you have sinfully forsaken, and whose commandments you have arbitrarily set asideeven I am to you as the source of rottenness, and of slow but sure ruin.”
Hos 5:13
Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb. Both kingdoms became conscious of their disease and decline; Ephraim felt its sickness or internal consumption, Judah its wound or external corruption (mazor, a festering wound, from zur, to squeeze out); they were both conscious of rottenness in their condition. That diseased condition was rather spiritual apostasy than political adversity, though these were connected as cause and effect. But, instead of applying to Jehovah, Ephraim had recourse to Assyria and its king for health and help, but in vain; for no earthly power could avert the Divine judgments. The punishment threatened in the twelfth verse prompts the efforts to obtain succor mentioned in this. The general sense of the verse is given by Kimchi as follows: “When Ephraim and Judah saw that the enemies were constantly invading and plundering them, they seek help from the King of Assyria; but turn not back to me, nor seek help from me, but from flesh and blood, which, however, cannot help them when it is not my pleasure.”
(1) Some, as the Jewish interpreters, refer the first clause as a matter of course to Ephraim, but the second to Judah; thus, Jerome in like manner understands Ephraim’s visit of that to Pul, recorded in 2Ki 15:1-38; and the message of Judah to Tiglath-pileser (2Ki 16:1-20); but an interval of thirty years lay between the two events thus described as synchronous. Rashi explains the former clause of Hoshea’s visit to Shalmaneser the King of Assyria, and the second of Ahaz’s to Tiglath-pileser; Kimchi, again, refers the former to Menahem visiting Pul, and the second of Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser. But
(2) Ephraim is the subject in both clauses, so that there is no need of a supposed reference to Judah in the second. Calvin correctly restricts them both to Ephraim, and accounts for the restriction as follows: “Why, then, does he name only Ephraim? Even because the beginning of this evil commenced in the kingdom of Israel; for they were the first who went to the King of Assur, that they might, by his help, resist their neighbors, the Syrians; the Jews afterwards followed their example. Since, then, the Israelites afforded a precedent to the Jews to send for aids of this kind, the prophet expressly confines his discourse to them.” He admits, however, that the accusation had respect to both in common; or Ephraim may have applied on behalf of Judah as well as for herself. There is much diversity of opinion with regard to the word “Jareb.” Some take it
(1) for a proper name, either of an Assyrian king or of some place or city in the country of Assyria. as the LXX; Aben Ezra, and Kimchi; but the absence of the article is opposed to this, neither is Jer 37:1, “and Zechariah reigned as king” (vayyimloch melech), a proper parallel. Others
(2) more correctly explain as a qualifying epithet to “king,” that is, “pleader,” “striver,” or “warrior,” in ether words, a warlike or champion king, like the epithet of among the Greeks. The indefiniteness in this case gives the idea of majesty or might, as in Arabic; thus, “a champion king, and such a king!” Yet could he not (yet shall he not be able to) heal you (plural, and so Ephraim and Judah), nor cure you of your wound. Whatever the distress was, whether arising from hostile invasion or domestic troubles, those degenerate kings had recourse to foreigners for aid. With the profitlessness as well as the sinfulness of such attempts they are hero sharply rebuked. Thus Calvin: “Here God declares that whatever the Israelites might seek would be in vain. ‘Ye think,’ he says, ‘ that you can escape my hand by these remedies; but your folly will at length betray itself, for he will avail you nothing; that is, King Jareb will not heal you.'”
Hos 5:14, Hos 5:15
These verses assign a reason for the powerlessness even of the mighty Assyrian monarch to help; and that reason is the Divine interposition. The irresistible Jehovah himself (the addition of the pronoun intensifies, yet more its repetition) now interferes for the destruction of the apostate and rebellious people. For I am unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. As we are taught in these words, Jehovah’s mode of procedure is now changed. Before it had been slow and silent, though sure destruction, as signified by the moth and woodworm; but now it will be public and patent to the eyes of all, as wall as decisive and powerful, as intimated by the comparison of a lion and young lion. Nor is that all: lion-like, lie will rend before removing the preya tearing in pieces and then a carrying away. This well-known habit of the lion finds its counterpart in the subsequent facts of Hebrew history. The northern kingdom was first rent or broken up by Shalmaneser; subsequently the population were carried away into captivity; in like manner the southern kingdom suffered at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. I will go and return to my place. The figurative comparison with a lion is continued in the first clause of Hos 5:15 also. The lion tears his victim and carries it away, then he retires into his cave or den; so Jehovah, after bringing calamity upon Israel, withdraws from the scene and retires to his own place in heaven, though the heaven of heavens cannot contain him. There, in that unapproachable ether, he is inaccessible to and beyond the reach of the guilty nation that knew not nor valued the former times of merciful visitation. One remedy, and only one, is left and that is found in penitence and prayer. Once they find out their guiltiness and humble themselves in repentance, they may hopefully seek his face and favor. Turning away from human help, and supplicating the gracious help of the Divine presence, they are encouraged by the prospect of relict’ and revival; while the means to that end are, no doubt, painful, yet profitable. In the school of affliction they learnt penitence and were brought to their knees in prayer.
HOMILETICS
Hos 5:1-5
God here arraigns the sins of princes, priests, and people.
Their degeneracy had been very great and their sins very grievous. Though there is no formal catalogue given of those sins, yet they are incidentally exhibited in the reproofs and rebukes which follow.
I. ALL CLASSES ARE ADDRESSED BY THE DIVINE WORD. It is directed to the high and to the low alike; to the rich and to the poor; it speaks to every grade in society and every rank in life; there is none so high as to be above its teaching, and none so lowly as to be beneath its notice. To sovereigns as to the meanest subjects of their realm; to magistrates and men in authority, as well as to those under their jurisdiction, the warnings and admonitions of Scripture reach. To all, of every class and condition, of every caste and clime, the Divine Word is offered as a light to their test and a lamp to their path.
II. ALL CLASSES ARE AMENABLE TO THE DIVINE JUDGMENTS. The judgments of God are denounced against all workers of iniquityfrom the poorest and meanest of the people to the priests who should be their instructors and examples, and to the princes and principal men, who should not only rule and guide, but protect and preserve them to the utmost of their power. And yet there is a distinction; for those who, through their exalted position or extensive influence, seduce others to sin, expose themselves to sorer condemnation. But, while those who entrap others into sin are doubly guilty, the persons entrapped are not on that account guiltless. Subjects sometimes suffer through the mistakes of their sovereigns; but when subjects and sovereigns are both involved in guilt, they must expect to have their respective share in punishment. When God has a controversy with a people, and his judgments are approaching, it is a time for serious consideration and solemn reflection. Hence we have a triple call to attention in this first verse: “Hear ye this, hearken ye, give ye ear.” It was an earnest time and an emphatic call; for God “will at last force audience and attention from the most stubborn.”
III. ALL CLASSES HAD PERVERTED THE WAY. The revolters seem to have belonged to all ranks and to have comprehended all classes. If the “slaughter” which they made refers to the slaying of sacrifices, it is spoken of with contempt, because those sacrifices, whether from defects in their own nature, or imperfection in the manner in which they were offered, or the wrongness of the motive with which they were presented, were unacceptable to God. Accordingly he speaks of them disparagingly; for “though the prophet spake of sacrifices, he no doubt called sacrificing in contempt killing; as though we should call the temple the shambles, and the killing of victims slaughtering.” If, on the other hand, the slaughter referred to be understood literally of actual murder, the criminality is still greater, and they bear the brand of red-handed assassins. In either case, the idiom employed is a very energetic mode of expression “The slaughter they have made deep,” or, “they have gone deep in slaughtering,” conveys the idea of the great length to which they had gone, either in sacrifices to idols and contrary to legal appointment, or in murderously shedding blood, or even in the more modified sense of causing destruction. They had gone to an extreme in the direction indicated, whichever sense is assigned to slaughtering. It is not so much that they hid their doings deep, as that they went deeply into their works, or sunk deeply in their sin. Further, the aggravation of their sin consisted in its being without excuse. They could not plead ignorance, for they had had line upon line, and precept upon precept. They could not say that they had been left to themselves without let or hindrance, for had they not enjoyed the instructions and admonitions of those prophets of God whose sphere of labor lay in the northern kingdom? Warnings they had had from Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, and others; corrections moderate in measure and salutary in design they had, no doubt, been favored with. Yet all had been to no purpose; they sunk deeper and deeper in the slough of sin, so that their sin had become exceeding sinful.
IV. ALL DISGUISES OF SINNERS ARE TRANSPARENT TO THE EYE OF OMNISCIENCE. Many are the pretences men make to cover their sins, and artful the pretexts by which they seek to hide them. But however men may strive to conceal their sins from their fellow-men, however they may gloss them over so as to deceive their own souls, and however they may cloak them, as though it were possible to cheat the Almighty; yet all such artifices, by which they try to deceive their neighbors, or blind themselves, or even escape the eye of Omniscience, will prove miserable evasions, leaving them at lasteven the inmost thoughts and intents of their heartsopen and naked before the eyes of him with whom they have to do. “The Lord seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” The sin of Ephraim, the premier tribe of Israel, was known to God, and he pronounced it whoredom, spiritual whoredom, that is, idolatry. The effect of that sin, which, originating with Ephraim, infected all the other tribes of Israel, was not hid, and could not be hid, from the omniscient One, and he denounced it as defilementpollution loathsome as sinful. Many a specious excuse had been offered, we cannot doubt, for the worship of the calves. Did it not originate with Jeroboam, that patriot king who came to the rescue of the people, and delivered them from unjust and grinding taxation? Was not Jerusalem too far distant from the center of the country to be the gathering-place of the tribes? Was not Bethel a consecrated placea holy spot from that early time when Jacob had his wondrous vision of the ladder connecting earth with heaven? Was not Dan conveniently situated for the northern and remoter tribes? These, and such arguments as these, might serve to palliate the will-worship of Ephraim and the idolatry of Israel. But no; the eye of God saw through it all; for now, whatever excuse might be alleged; now, whatever plausibilities might be employed; now, whatever veil might be thrown over their procedure;it stood out in its true colors, and in the sight of Heaven, idolatry, defilementsin in inception and sin in execution, sin in act and sin in effect. Thus Omniscience is proof against all the plausible pretexts with which men surround their sins by way of excuse, apology, or palliation.
V. SINS, LIKE SORROWS, LOVE A TRAIN. How often one sin leads to another, and that, again, to many more! Sins not infrequently are linked together. Israel by this time was bound by the chain of their own sins; and the links of that chain were many. Beginning our enumeration with idolatry, we find in its wake impenitence, ignorance, insolence, and iniquity in general.
1. It is bad enough when men fall into sin, but worse when they persist in it; nor is there any real repentance unless there are fruits meet for repentance. But when men will not have recourse to any of those outward means that might tend toward repentance, the obduracy of their heart is extreme and their condition desperate. Thus was it with Israel when they would not” frame their doings to turn unto their God.”
2. The alternative rendering of these words shows us the slavery of sin. Never was there a more cruel bondage than that of iniquity. “Their doings will not suffer them to turn;” they have put the yoke on their neck, and having worn it long they are loath to part with it; and if they would they could not. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” So in Peter we read of persons “having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin.”
3. When men continue long in a course of sin, hardening themselves against remonstrance and reproof, and holding out against all inducements and invitations to repent, God may, and sometimes does, give them up to judicial blindness of one kind or other. An evil spirit of idolatry or impunity, or both, had taken possession of the people’s heart at this period. “A strong man armed keepeth his palacehis goods are in peace;” so the infatuation of a particular course of sin, like a Satanic spirit and with Satanic power, completely overmastered and dominated them.
4. Profession without practice is both hypocritical and vain. The Israelites at this time had a profession of religion, for God is called “their God,” which could only be by their profession, or owing to the original covenant engagement, the conditions of which they had fallen away from, or by reason of his long-suffering mercy waiting for their return. It is, rather, the first of these that justified the use of the possessive in this case. And that being so, they claimed to possess knowledge of God; but “as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,” or, as the margin has it, “to a mind void of judgment.” Continuance in sin proves men’s ignorance of the true character of God, of the beauty of holiness, of the hatefulness of sin, and of the dreadful consequences of backsliding. The custom of sinning deprives men of whatever knowledge of such things they had or seemed to have, so that “he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”
5. This ignorance was evidence of their ingratitude. “The prophet,” says Calvin, “extenuates not the sin of the people, but, on the contrary, amplifies their ingratitude, because they had forgotten their God who had so indulgently treated them. As they had been redeemed by God’s hand, as the teaching of the Law had continued among them, as they had been preserved to that day through God’s constant kindness, it was truly an evidence of monstrous ignorance that they could in an instant adopt ungodly forms of worship, and embrace those corruptions which they knew were condemned in the Law.”
VI. PROOFS AND CAUSES OF ISRAEL‘S PRIDE. Ephraim’s pride and envy of Judah produced the disruption and perpetuated it. Two privileges of the birthright forfeited by Jacob’s firstborn had been shared by these tribes. Joseph got the double portion in connection with Ephraim and Manasseh; and Judah gained the pre-eminence. Though Judah was superior both numerically and by largeness of territory in the land of promise, Ephraim enjoyed countervailing advantages. All along from the blessing of Jacob Ephraim was inspired with the hope of great things for himself and tribe. The Ephraimites had the choicest of the land, and a central position contributing to their influence over the other tribes. Joshua, the chosen chief who had led the people into the land of promise and settled them in it, sprang from Ephraim; Samuel, the last of the judges, was a native of Mount Ephraim; for three centuries and a hair’ the national sanctuary remained at Shiloh, within the confines of the tribe of Ephraim; the men of that tribe had highly distinguished themselves in the war with Midian, securing the fords of Jordan and beheading the two Midianite princes, Oreb and Zeeb, who had escaped at the head of fifteen thousand men. Igor were they slow to assert their claims; such was their pride, that they could not brook a subordinate position, but insisted on pre-eminence. Their self-assertion and even unreasonable petulance were severely chastised by Jephthah. For a time the superiority inclined or actually belonged to Ephraim; but the preponderance given to Judah by the elevation of David, and Solomon his son, completely turned the scale. Moreover, the transference to Jerusalem, both of the seat of ecclesiastical authority from Shiloh and of the civil capital from Shechem, deeply wounded the pride of Ephraim, and greatly increased the rivalry with Judah. To the slight thus put upon Ephraim there is a distinct reference in several verses of the seventy-eighth psalm; thus, “God was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;” and again, “He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which he loved.” For seven years they held out against David; they were the strength of the Absalomic rebellion; they abetted the usurpation of Jeroboam, and accepted the idolatrous worship which, for political purposes, he commended to them; and all from their pride and overweening estimate of themselves, and envy towards their brethren of Judah.
VII. THE HUMILIATION OF PRIDE, OR ITS TESTIMONY.
1. This overbearing spirit of Israel as a nation, and of Ephraim its kingly tribe, was sorely crushed, and the pride of both sadly humbled, when, as had been foretold, they first went into captivity.
2. The other rendering of testify is well explained by the following observations of Pusey: “They could not give up this sin of Jeroboam without endangering their separate existence as Israel, and owning the superiority of Judah. From this complete self-surrender to God their pride shrank and held them back. The pride which Israel thus showed in refusing to turn to God, and in preferring their sin to their God, itself, he says, witnessed against them, and condemned them.”
3. It must have been an addition to Israel’s calamity that they had been a snare to Judah, and helped to drag them down into the same slough of sin, and eventually into the same catastrophe with themselves.
4. But how are we to account for the seeming contradiction between the safety previously promised Judah and the calamity now denounced? Calvin’s reply to a similar inquiry is pertinent and plain. “The prophet,” he says, “speaks here not of those Jews who continued in true and pure religion, but of those who had with the Israelites alienated themselves from the only true God and joined in their superstitions. He thus refers here to the degenerate, and not to the faithful Jews; for to all who worshipped God aright salvation had been already promised.”
Hos 5:6-10
No place found for repentance.
They would seek the Lord with sacrifices from the flock and from the herd, but they would not find him; they multiplied sacrifices, but the Lord had withdrawn himself. Thus in the New Testament we read that Esau “found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears;” or, according to the Revised Version, “even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected (for he found no place of repentance), though he sought it diligently with tears.” In one of our Lord’s parablesthe parable of the ten virginswe read that after those who were ready had gone in with him to the marriage, “the door was shut.” This brief sentence is in one aspect of it among the most impressive and solemn in the whole Word of God. The sentiment conveyed by it is somewhat, indeed much, akin to that of the statement of the prophet in reference to Israel.
I. IT IS IMPORTANT TO REALIZE THE NATURE OF SUCH WITHDRAWAL. The loss of earthly friends or their estrangement from us is much to be deplored; how much sadder it is when we forfeit the favor of Heaven, and God withdraws himself! On earth friends may, from misconduct on our part, or misconception on their part, or misrepresentation on the part of some intermeddler, or misapprehension of one kind or other, shut the door against us, or we may shut the door against ourselves. But however such an event is to be regretted, still a proper understanding may reopen the once friendly door, or time may unbar it, or the kindly interposition of mutual friends may again open it; or, failing all this, another door may be opened in its stead, and other friends replace those whose friendship has been lost, or even better friends may be raised up in their room. But when the Lord shuts to the door and withdraws himself, no interposition shall unbar it, no time reopen it, no explanation ever fling or force it back; nothing shall ever be able to remove the bar that closes it. Once shut, it is shut forever; once closed, it never opens; once locked, no key can enter its wards; once bolted, that bolt remains an everlasting fixture.
II. IT IS WELL TO REFLECT ON THE TIME WHEN GOD WITHDRAWS HIMSELF AND IS NO LONGER TO BE FOUND. There may be some difficulty in ascertaining the precise times when God withdraws himself and is no longer found.
1. One thing, however, is abundantly certain, that in the case of sinners who live and die in sin, impenitent and unpardoned, this withdrawal takes place at death; for there is neither knowledge nor device in the grave. Then the day of grace is concluded, then the time of probation ends, then the means of salvation terminate, then the space for repentance is past, and God has forever withdrawn himself. Death seals the sinner’s doom irreversibly; the last opportunity is gone, and for ever; prayer is then powerless and penitence hopeless. There remains only the dooming, damning sentence, “I know you not whence ye are.” Hollow-hearted hypocrites ye must have been, workers of iniquity, and nothing more and nothing better, false professors, fruitless fig trees, cumbering and cursing the rich vineyard soil. Children of God ye never were; I never owned you as such; I cannot do so now. And thus he withdraws, leaving them to their fate.
2. But even before death this withdrawal may take place, at least in a certain sense. We are warned in Scripture that the Spirit will not always strive. To the Israelites of old he swore that they would never cuter into his rest, and so a whole generation of them was excluded from the land of promise; in reference to which the inspired penman utters the solemn warning, “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall alter the same example of unbelief”. In this very book God’s abandonment of Ephraim and consequent withdrawal are affirmed. “Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone.” Let us, then, beware of provoking God to withhold or withdraw the gracious influences of his Spirit, and thus leave us to judicial blindness. Let us beware of sinning away our day of grace, and in this respect outliving it.
3. We would not venture to limit the mercy of God, or set bounds to his sovereign grace.
“While the lamp holds out to burn
The vilest sinner may return.”
But God at any moment may withdraw the breath of his Spirit, or withhold the oil of his grace, and the lamp go out in everlasting darkness! Pusey makes a very interesting distinction, as follows: “The general rule of his dealings is this: that when the time of each judgment is actually come, then as to that judgment it is too late to pray. It is not too late for other mercy, or for final forgiveness, so long as man’s state of probation lasts; but it is too late as to this one.”
III. IT IS OF MOMENT TO ASSIGN SOME REASONS WHY GOD WITHDRAWS HIMSELF. This frequently takes place, we doubt not, in consequence of men silencing conscience and stifling convictions. Conscience may become callous or seared, and convictions may wear gradually weak, nay: at length cease altogether. The same result may be brought about by allowing any sin to have the mastery, and in consequence of not seeking grace to resist it, or not summoning up resolution to break its yoke.
1. The people particularly referred to by the prophet had not sought the Lord in time. It was only when ruin stared them in the face that they bethought themselves of seeking God; it was fear drove them to his service.
2. They were only half-hearted in his service, and it was a divided allegiance they rendered; but God claims the whole heart of his worshippers, otherwise he will not be found of them.
3. Their repentance was not genuine; it appears to have been outward sacrifice, not inward service. They brought their herds, not their hearts; their flocks, not the feelings of their souls.
4. Their faithlessness had a prospective as well as present evil influence. Their children, instead of being trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, inured to idolatry and irreligion both by the precept and example of their parents, would, as a matter of course, prove as faithless and godless, or more so than they.
5. No wonder God set a time to ease him of his adversaries and avenge him of his enemies. That time, a month, was certain, short, and sudden.
IV. GOD SPEAKS BEFORE HE STRIKES. God suffereth long with the provocations of sinners. He warns them of the evil of their ways; he apprises them of the ruinous consequences of their sinful courses.
1. He threatens before he inflicts the blow; he gives notice of his judgments before they arrive. Dark clouds precede the coming storm. Milder judgments are sent as precursors of more severe visitations. It is of God’s mercy that men are not only informed of their duty, but apprised of their danger. Ministers of the gospel are to sound the alarm, that men may flee from the wrath to come.
2. When God’s judgments are near at hand, their approach has a startling effect. Those who made light of them, or thought them far off, are confounded and amazed; while this confusion may be reflected in the very abruptness of the expression, “After thee, O Benjamin;” at thy back comes the enemydisaster, destruction, desolation.
3. The judgments of God, thus announced as near, at the very door, are represented as sure. They are no mere menaces or make-believes; they are not meant merely to alarm; they are dread realities, which impenitent sinners can by no means escape or evade. “Among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.” To all notice had been given, so that no one could urge the plea of ignorance on his own part, nor charge precipitancy on the part of God. In his mercy he had made it known to all without exception, in his truth he will make it sure. They had been warned, called to repentance, chastened paternally; but they had despised all this. And the day of mercy is now past; the time of judgment is come; the final doom, fixed and irreversible, is denounced. When princes, making their will law, trample on the privileges of their people, or infringe the Law of God, or in any way set aside sacred and solemn obligations, they incur a fearful responsibility. When, not only by their edicts but by their example, they set aside the enactments of Heaven, and encourage their subjects to do likewise, they open upon themselves the flood-gates of Divine wrath which God pours out upon them, like the waters of the deluge on the guilty antediluvians. Pusey supposes that the reference to the princes of Judah being “like them that remove the bound,” contains some such allusion as the following: “Since the prophet had just pronounced the desolation of Israel, perhaps that sin was that, instead of taking warning from the threatened destruction and turning to God, they thought only how the removal of Ephraim would benefit them by the enlargement of their borders. They might hope also to increase their private estates out of the desolate lands of Ephraim their brother.”
Hos 5:11-15
God’s judgments differ both in degree and kind.
Ephraim had obeyed man rather than God, and God gives them over to man for punishment. The men who oppressed Ephraim acted unjustly, but God, in permitting that unjust oppression, was exercising his prerogative of justice. Neither could Ephraim palliate their sin by alleging compulsion on the part of their rulers, nor throw, the blame entirely on the ungodly commandment of an ungodly rang, or those who might enforce it by pains and penalties. They obeyed it, not by constraint, but willingly; not through compulsion, but of a ready mind.
I. THE DESIGN AND NATURE OF MINOR AND MILDER JUDGMENTS. The moth and woodworm may symbolize lesser judgments. Such visitations frequently have for their object the repentance and reformation of the people or persons so visited. God’s design in sending them is gracious; his purpose is merciful. The process, notwithstanding, is painful and the affliction grievous. It goes on silently, so that little alarm is made; noiselessly, so that little apprehension is felt; hence it is that grace is needed for men to know the time of such visitation. It proceeds slowly, so that time is allowed men to mend their ways, and space given them for repentance. The judgments here spoken of proceed gradually, and are designed to prevent greater. Thus mercy is mingled with judgment; for judgment is God’s strange work, while mercy is his darling attribute.
II. THE IMPOTENCY OF MERE HUMAN HELPERS. They felt their sickness, they suffered from their painful wound, and became conscious of rottenness in their state. They did not discern with equal clear-sightedness the cause of that sickness, nor perceive the source whence that rottenness proceeded. They were equally blind to the right way of relief. Had they seen their sin in their suffering, God’s hand in their stroke, and his justice in its infliction, they would have been nearer the right way to the remedy. They sought help from the creature, not from the Creator; from the monarch of Assyria, not from the King of kings, and yet he only distressed them and helped them not. So with men too often in time of their distress. They put confidence in human means, but find at last that they are leaning on broken reeds; they hew out for themselves cisterns, but find too late that they are broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Not only so, by such sinful expedients they are in no way bettered, but rather get worse, and increase thereby at once their sin and their sorrow.
III. WHY THE SORER AND SEVERER JUDGMENTS ARE RESORTED TO. The lion and the young lion are emblematical of the severer judgments. God threatens to deal with the people of Israel and Judah more rigorously than heretofore. “I will not be any longer like a moth and a worm; I shall come like a lion to you, with an open mouth to devour you…. I will rage against you as a fierce wild beast: your grievance shall not now be from moths and worms; but you shall have an open and dreadful contest with the lion and the young lion…. Men, when they attempt to oppose vain helps to the wrath of God, gain only this, that they more and more provoke and inflame his wrath against themselves. After God has first gnawed, he will at length devour; after he has pricked, he will deeply wound; after he has struck, he will wholly destroy.” But why are these severer visitations had recourse to? The answer is very well given by Cyril as follows:
“As in human bodies such affections as are violent and do not yield to gentle remedies are frequently overcome by fire and sword, in like way and manner affections occurring in human souls, if they do not give way to mild words, and are overcome by prudent reasoning, are expelled by labor and chastisement and severe calamities.”
IV. A RESPITE RESULTING IN REPENTANCE. The infliction of punishment is represented as executed in lion-like fashion: he is not forced to retreat, nor is there any possibility of rescue, nor does he retire stealthily and with fox-like secrecy and cunning, but openly, powerfully, and victoriously. When God visits with judgments, he comes forth out of his place and men are forced to feel his presence; when his corrections are completed, he returns to his place, and there, though he seems to take no notice of, and to be far removed from, his people, he has taken his place on the mercy-seat and is waiting to be gracious. God here speaks after the manner of men; “for he neither so hides himself in heaven that he neglects human affairs, nor withdraws his hand but that he sustains the world by the continued exercise of his power, nor even takes his Spirit from men, especially when he would lead them to repentance; for men never of their own accord turn themselves to God, but by his hidden influence.” Thus, when God had punished both Israel and Judah by exile, he seemed to hide his face from them, as though unmindful of them, and having neither care nor regard for them. This hiding of his face allowed time for repentance. His purpose was to induce them to repent and return to him. This was the true and only remedy.
V. MEN RETURN TO GOD BY REPENTANCE AND FAITH. The first step men take as they return to God is confession of sin”they acknowledge their offence;” the first part in the process of healing is the correct diagnosis of the disease and discovery of its cause. The second thing required for reconciliation with God is to “seek his face.” Thus repentance and faith go hand in hand; not that either of them is the meritorious cause of pardon. The one is a conditiona suitable condition or proper qualification for pardon; the other is the cordial acceptance of pardon, or rather of that righteousness which is the true ground of pardon. The mercy of God is transparent throughout the entire process, while a practical realization of persons acknowledging their offence and seeking the tare of God is found in the case of Daniel, as may be seen by a perusal of the ninth chapter of the book of that prophet.
VI. AFFLICTION SERVES AS A SPIRITUAL RESTORATIVE. During the long and dreary period of the seventy years’ captivity in Babylon the captives had a convenient season to repent of their sins and return to the Lord; nor did they ever after backslide into idolatry. During the present prolonged dispersion of that wonderful people, many of them will repent of their national rejection of Messiah and return to God, looking unto him whom their forefathers pierced with tearful eyes; and at the close of the period in question, though” blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, all Israel shall be saved.”
APPLICATION. “When,” says a godly Puritan expositor, “we are under the convictions of sin and the corrections of the rod, our business is to seek God’s face…. And it may reasonably be expected that affliction will bring those to God that had long gone astray from him, and kept at a distance. Therefore God for a time turns away from us, that he may turn us to himself and then return to us.”
HOMILIES BY C. JERDAN
Hos 5:1-10
National sin and punishment.
The general strain of this chapter is similar to that of the preceding. “The judgment” (Hos 5:1) which has already been pronounced there is still continued. In Hos 4:1-19; however, Judah was addressed as occupying a different position, morally and religiously, from Israel; whereas here the southern kingdom is represented as sharing in Israel’s guilt and condemnation. It would appear, therefore, that when the warning of Hos 4:15 was uttered, Judah’s defection was already beginning.
I. THE NATURE OF SIN. It is a “dealing treacherously against Jehovah” (Hos 4:7), the rightful Spouse of the soul, who expects from his people that faithfulness which a wife owes to her husband. It is also “whoredom” (Hos 4:3); for infidelity to the marriage covenant leads to the cherishing of many objects of sinful desire. It is also “pride” (Hos 4:5)that deeply rooted self-will which is the secret spring of idolatry. Sin in all these forms dishonors God and grossly defiles the soul.
II. THE ROOT OF SIN. Sin is not merely an outward work. It is not confined to acts of the will. The root of it is “the spirit of whoredoms” (Hos 4:4). This spirit has its seat at the very center of man’s being. The Apostle Paul calls it “the law of sin” (Rom 7:23, Rom 7:25). It is the controlling principle of the unregenerate life, and it often leads the believer captive even in spite of his renewed nature. “The spirit of whoredoms” dominates the soul like a demon, and the sinner serves it as its slave. Satan lays hold upon this spirit as his helper in his constant assaults upon the minds of men. And only the Holy Spirit can impart adequate strength to prevail against it.
III. THE CONTAGIOUSNESS OF SIN. The condition of Israel at the time to which the prophet here refers graphically illustrates this. Hosea saw that the national life was leavened with iniquity. The pyramid of the commonwealth, from apex to base, was honeycombed with idolatry and impurity. The national sin was shared by:
1. The priests. Instead of being the spiritual guardians of the people, they were as snares and nets to entrap them. Ministers of religion become such:
(1) By neglecting teaching, as the priests of the ten tribes had done (Hos 4:1).
(2) By preaching unsound doctrine. So, in ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress,’ the Flatterer, “a black man clothed in white,” led Christian and Hopeful into his net.
(3) By living inconsistent lives. So the wickedness of Eli’s sons made many unbelievers.
2. The courts. The princes, too, were men-trappers”sportsmen rather than watchmen” (Jerome). Jeroboam L had been such. He “drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin” (2Ki 17:21). Ahab had been such, in introducing the worship of Baal and Asbtaroth (1Ki 16:30-33). Menahem was such, for his reign was steeped in cruelty, and he laid his help upon King Pul of Assyria rather than upon the God of Israel (2Ki 15:19). Even the princes of Judah were becoming such; they were removing the landmarks between the worship of Jehovah and idolatry (verse 10). Our rulers in like manner entrap the British nation into sin, when they promote immoral legislation upon pleas of expediency or state policy (e.g. the attempted state regulation of vice in the army, and the patronage of the opium trade between India and China).
3. The entire Hebrew nation. The people of both kingdoms foolishly fell into the snares and nets which were spread for them. They were full of “pride” (verse 5) and vain confidence. They despised prophetic instruction, and became contumacious and refractory in their sin.
IV. THE HEREDITY OF SIN. Had Israel continued faithful to the national covenant with Jehovah, he would have begotten children to God, instead of “strange children” (verse 7), who did not belong to the home, and did not spring from the marriage union. But a godless nation is composed of godless parents, who bring up godless children. Infants who have done no evil yet inherit evil, and may bring with them into life terrific predispositions towards it. The iniquity of the fathers is visited upon the children. It is comforting, however, to remember that good traits descend by inheritance as well as bad ones. God’s way of regenerating the world is to maintain his Church in it, and to cultivate thereby the heredity of holiness. There is a sense in which grace does run in the blood (Exo 20:6; Psa 112:2; 2Ti 1:5). The children of Christian parents are not “children of wrath” (1Co 7:14; Act 16:31).
V. THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN. Ephraim’s “whoredom” was detected (verse 3). It lay exposed every moment to the eye of God. He penetrated all the fair excuses which the people made to themselves for it. “The pride of Israel doth testify to his face” (verse 5), i.e. he shall be openly convicted of it, and condemned for it. The punishment is to be:
1. Immediate. (Verse 7) “A month shall devour them.” Destruction shall overtake them as swiftly, so to speak, as the moon shall wane. Already the sword of vengeance is hanging over their beads by a single hair.
2. Sudden. (Verse 8) The invasion of the Assyrian power as the rod of the Divine anger is announced with an injunction to sound horn and trumpet. For the prophet already sees the drawn sword of Jehovah in the conqueror’s hand.
3. Certain. (Verse 9) The punishment “shall surely be.” God is as true to his threatenings as to his promises.
4. Terrible. “Israel and Ephraim shall fall (verse 5). “A month shall devour them” (verse 7). “Ephraim shall fall (verse 5). “A month shall devour them” (verse 7). “Ephraim shall be desolate” (verse 9). “I will pour out my wrath upon them like water” (verse 10). The whole nation became wasted with misery and was plunged headlong into destruction. The story of the decline and fall of the Hebrew monarchies illustrates very vividly the doom of sin.
VI. HOW THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN MAY BE AVERTED. Even this dark passage is not altogether without some hopeful suggestion.
1. A false expedient. (Verse 6) The festivals and worship of the Mosaic Law were still observed at the idol-shrines of Bethel and Dan. So Ephraim, when his doom began to overtake him, endeavored to pacify the Divine anger by bringing costly sacrifices of Socks and herds. But, although the people sought the Lord thus, they did “not find him;” for they came in a spirit of slavish fear, and did not bring the sacrifice of a contrite heart and an obedient will.
2. The eight way. (Verse 4) God is waiting to be gracious; but he requires of sinners a willingness to “frame their doings to turn unto their God.” We must gladly allow the Holy Spirit to regenerate and purify our souls. The only use of the external sacrifices of the Law was to typify the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Sacrifice for sin; and to symbolize the “living sacrifices” which men offer to God when they yield themselves wholly to his service.C.J.
Hos 5:10
Landmark-removers.
The Jews were not a mercantile nor a manufacturing people, but a nation of agriculturists. Each citizen had his own piece of ground allotted to him as the family inheritance; and great pains were taken that his descendants should be secured in it forever. A man might pledge his portion until the year of jubilee, but it was not lawful absolutely to sell it (Num 36:7). Hence the sacredness of landmarks, as a means of preserving accurately the boundaries of family possessions. One of the curses spoken from Ebal was directed against the man who should remove them (Deu 27:17). Elijah pronounced doom upon Ahab, not for the murder of Naboth alone, but also for “removing the bound” of his vineyard (1Ki 21:19). Our text, however, invites us to consider rather the spiritual truth which this offence suggests. “The princes of Judah” were guilty of still deeper sin than the removal of boundary-stones. They had broken down moral and religious harriers. And this form of evil is a crying one in the world still.
I. SOME “REMOVE THE BOUND” OF THE INSPIRED WORD. The Bible closes with a curse upon such (Rev 22:18, Rev 22:19). Yet the Jews committed this sin in relation to the Old Testament Scriptures by venerating the traditional law, as written in the Talmud, more than “the commandment of God” itself (Mat 15:6). The Church of Rome errs in the same way, by giving the Apocrypha a place alongside of the canonical Books, and by insisting upon apostolical and ecclesiastical tradition as the complement of Scriptureequally inspired with it, and equally authoritative as a rule of faith. And those Protestants also “remove the bound” who deny the plenary inspiration of the Bible, and adopt the theory of partial inspiration in any of its forms.
II. SOME “REMOVE THE BOUND” BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE. Both of these are Divine institutionsthe one spiritual in its nature, and the other secular. The spheres of the two are distinct; and each within its own sphere is independent of the other. But bow hard have men found it to let the landmarks between Church and state remain where God set them! In one country the Church invades the domain of the state, directing and controlling ita usurpation which, in its fully developed form, is Vaticanism. In another country the state encroaches upon the domain of the Church, and exercises rule in sacred thingswhich is Erastianism. “Render therefore unto Caesar,” etc. (Mat 22:21).
III. SOME “REMOVE THE BOUND” AS REGARDS PURITY OF WORSHIP. “The princes of Judah” had shifted the landmarks between the worship of Jehovah and idolatry. And this offence is committed still by all who introduce modes of worship which are not in accordance with the Word of God. An elaborate sensuous ceremonial, and any form of service which assumes that ministers belong to a distinct sacerdotal order, are a removing of the bound. The secularization of the sabbath belongs to the same class of sins. Those who teach that now every day is alike sacred to the Christian are doing their best, although without intending it, to undermine one of the foundations of morality. For the sabbath law is imbedded in the Decalogue. Not only so, but “Christ hath took in this piece of ground” (George Herbert). So it is at our peril if we remove the boundary-stones which separate the Lord’s day from the other days of the week.
IV. SOME “REMOVE THE BOUND” BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION. The conflict between the two is concerned very much about the landmarks of their respective provinces. In old times it was the theologian who was generally the chief offender. It was the Church that forced Galileo to abjure the sublime truths of his scientific creed, and that condemned the three laws of Kepler as heretical. At present, however, the chief “remover of the bound” is the scientist. The student of physical nature, unless he be decidedly a Christian, is prone to lack ability to appreciate moral evidence. Thus some of our most eminent scientific investigators in these times would have us give up our faith in moral freedom, in personal immortality, and in the existence of God himself. But the domain of physical science is one province of truth, while that of religion is another. Scientific questions are to be settled on scientific grounds, and by men who have had a scientific training. The theologian, on the other hand, must keep within his own frontier, and resolutely defend those moral facts and religious truths with which it belongs to him to deal. It is his function to assert the reality of moral freedom, the supremacy of conscience, the intuition of immortality, and those deep experiences of guilt and soul-hunger to which only the gospel of Christ can respond. A curse shall fall upon those who remove these landmarks.
V. SOME “REMOVE THE BOUND” OF EVANGELICAL DOCTRINE. Orthodoxy has its landmarks which separate the apostolic doctrine from “another gospel.” What are the great historical creeds and confessions, but so many bounds which the Church has erected in order to discriminate truth from error? And is not every article in one of these creeds, as it were, a boundary-stone? Experience has shown Christendom that the most effectual way of exposing heresies is to translate the doctrinal teaching of Scripture into the philosophical language of a confession. Yet there have always been “removers of the bound” of “sound doctrine.” The Broad Churchman and the rationalist object to the evangelical boundaries; and they have never done so more loudly than at the present day. Even in some orthodox Churches, doctrines contained in the standards are from some of the pulpits unblushingly contravened. We must “hold fast the form of sound words.” It is at our peril if we “remove the bound.”
VI. SOME “REMOVE THE BOUND” AS REGARDS NONCONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. The evil one labors to obliterate as much as possible all distinct boundary-lines between the Church and the world. He tempts ministers always to preach “smooth things.” He tempts the rulers of the Church to neglect the administration of discipline. He tempts the members of our congregations to imbibe the spirit of the world, and to try to serve both God and mammon. The Ten Commandments are so many boundary-stones which mark the track of the narrow way; but we often regard the path as too strait, and would fain remove the stones back a little. We ask concerning certain worldly pleasures,”What harm is there in them?” instead of inquiring what good there is. The tendency of the Church in these times is by no means towards asceticism or Puritanism. Few Christian people are too strait-laced; the danger is rather that we become spiritually lax, and that we “remove the bound.”C.J.
Hos 5:11-15
The Divine judgments.
In this strophe the Lord denounces as useless and foolish the policy which Israel had adopted of seeking to strengthen himself by alliances with Assyria. In doing this the nation was only adding to its guilt, and precipitating its doom.
I. THE NATURE OF THE JUDGMENTS. We gather from the passage that these are of three orders, each being more severe than the preceding.
1. Slow consumption. (Verse. 12) The “moth” and the “worm” suggest silent, stealthy, secret destruction. So the kingdom of the ten tribes is as a garment eaten by a moth, while the kingdom of Judah is as a tree slowly destroyed by a worm. The worm makes way much more slowly than the moth does; and we find, accordingly, that the “moth” ate up Israel in two generations from the time of this prediction, while the “worm” did not accomplish its work in Judah until after the lapse of a century and a half. Now, God’s judgments still, both upon nations and individuals, are often like the moth and the worm. Many an ungodly commonwealth has the heart eaten out of it by a process of imperceptible moral deterioration. And frequently a young man of reputable character, who has never gone astray into gross vice, yet degenerates in spiritual tone, and loses the finer fibers of his nature, just because he has not cultivated elevating tastes, and has been content to cherish low ideals.
2. Sudden ruin. (Hos 5:14) If God sometimes punishes slowly, he does so at other times swiftly. The two Hebrew kingdoms resisted his judgments, when, in his long-suffering, he came at first somewhat lightly as the “moth” and the “worm.” So he is compelled to adopt measures more dramatic and terrible. Jehovah will be to Ephraim as a strong full-grown “lion”full-grown because the northern kingdom is very soon to fall; and he will be to Judah “as a young lion,” which must become mature before it will do its work of destruction. Both kingdoms, howevereach in its turnare to be overwhelmed with a sudden rush of ruin. “‘I, even I,’ the Lion of the tribe of Judah, will tear the nation and take it hence. I will no longer be its guardian; I will make it my prey.” How many powerful Gentile states also have been suddenly destroyed! And how many ungodly men, who “spread themselves like a green bay tree,” have been “cut down like the grass”!
3. Settled desertion. (Hos 5:15) The Divine judgment upon the sinner, in its superlative form, consists in the withdrawal of the Divine favor and protection. When the two captivities took place respectively, the Hebrew nation became, as it were, God-forsaken. The Lord smote Ephraim and Judah, and tore them, and “returned to his place,” leaving them bruised, bleeding, and to all appearance dying. To be thus God-deserted is, to a moral and spiritual being, the acme of punishment. When a soul becomes consciously God-forsaken, it begins to taste the pains of hell.
II. THE CAUSE OF THE JUDGMENTS. They fell upon the Hebrew people on account of their idolatry, aggravated by the unbelief which they showed in resorting for aid to the Assyrian power.
1. The worship of false gods. (Hos 5:11) “The commandment” refers to Jeroboam’s idolatrous innovation in erecting the two golden calves. This measure was the result of considerations of state policy on the part of a prince who did not himself rely upon the Divine protection. But the people accepted it “willingly,” showing thereby that their hearts also were not right in the sight of God. The calf-worship was the root of the entire apostasy of Israel; it prepared the way fur the grosser idolatry of Baalism, with its attendant train of moral disorder, vice, and crime. It was Jeroboam’s sin that sowed the seeds of the ruin of the whole Hebrew nation.
2. The calling in of incompetent physicians. (Hos 5:13) Israel was suffering from the “sickness” of anarchy, and bleeding from the” wound” of revolution; yet he would not recognize in these distresses a token of the Divine displeasure. He refused to listen to the messages of warning which God sent him by Hosea, and kept looking to second causes alone, both for the disease and the remedy. Ephraim “sent to King Jareb.” The word “Jareb” means “warrior,” “adversary,” “avenger;” and it is to be understood probably not as a proper name, but as a poetical epithet applied by the prophet himself to the King of Assyria. Again and again the two Hebrew kingdoms sought to make peace with the Assyrian power, buying him off by tribute, and occupying a position of abject vassalage (2Ki 15:1-38.18). All, however, was in vain. This un-theocratic policy did not even heal the hurt slightly; it made matters worse (2Ch 28:20). But the nations still have their King Jarebs to whom they apply when seeking a cure for their moral maladies. How numerous are the favorite social nostrums! With some, the hope of Great Britain is the further expansion of trade; with others, the spread of education; with others, “local option;” with others, parliamentary reform; with others, religious equality. But such expedients, however desirable in their own place, are at best only plasters and patches. Where the heart is the seat of the disease, the cure must be inward and radical. We must send, not to King Jareb, but to King Jesus. So, also, there are Jarebs to which guilt-stricken and sin-sick souls still apply. One seeks an anodyne in the pursuit of wealth; another fills high the bowl of sensuous pleasure; a third pays court to culture and the fine arts; a fourth labors hard in his own strength to live a clean moral life. But none of these pursuits can salve the wounds of sin. Only the application of the blood of Christ can bring spiritual life and health and blessing.
III. THE DESIGN OF THE JUDGMENTS. (Verse 15) The Book of Hosea is full of clouds and darkness; but behind them somewhere the sun is ever shining. And as we gaze upon the storm we see the rainbow of grace springing up in its very bosom. This closing verse of the chapter reminds us that the judgments are inflicted:
1. To produce penitence. For, after all, the Lord has only withdrawn a little way from his apostate people. If they will but have it so, he has only “returned to his place” for a short time (Isa 54:7-10). He has not cast them off finally, but only until they shall become convinced that they can have no comfort or salvation apart from himself. The first step in repentance is conviction and acknowledgment of sin. And multitudes of souls have been brought to take this step during a time of “affliction.”
2. To bring back to God. To “seek God’s face” is to seek his favor, his Son, his Spirit, the ordinances of his grace. To “seek him early” is to do so urgently, after the manner of one who will rise before the morning in very eagerness. If we view this verse as a prediction regarding the future of the Hebrew nation, we may find partial fulfillments of it towards the close of the Babylonish exile (Dan 9:1-27), and on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:1-47); and we know that it will be fully realized in that national conversion of the Jews which is to precede the second advent of Christ (Zec 12:1-14.; Rom 11:1-36). But the promise before us has a perennial lesson also to “sinners of the Gentiles.” It assures us of the glad welcome which our God will give usdespite whatever guilt may have stained our lives, and the deep corruption which assuredly still dwells within our heartsif only we turn to him in penitence, and make him our Righteousness and Strength and Hope.C.J.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND
Hos 5:10-13
The misuse of Divine judgments.
It is well for our rest and strength when, like the prophet, we can exercise steadfast faith in the unseen Ruler of all human affairs. Many events appear to contradict the theory of a wise and loving government. Causes which are seen seem adequate to produce the effects which arise from them, and we fail to discern God behind the ambitions and the follies of men. Happy is he who, like Hosea, hears God’s voice amidst the tumult, believes in a plan underlying confusion, and recognizes a hand which moulds and shapes all events to a wise end. He can “rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” It is more difficult to see God in passing events than in past history. The mists of antiquity envelop the actors and they become less real; whereas in modern events the actors project themselves in all the greatness of their individuality upon our thought, to the exclusion of him who is greater than they. Coming from Chamounix towards Geneva, the tourist sees the near hills, but does not catch a glimpse of the snowy peaks of Mont Blanc till he is far away; but in the greater distance the lower hills fade into indistinctness, and the everlasting heaven-lighted mountain once more asserts itself. In the study of these far-off scenes we see something of him who rules over all things, God blessed for ever. “Our lives through various scenes are drawn,” etc. Learn from the passage
I. THAT THE SHARING OF SIN INVOLVES MEN IN THE SHARING OF SIN‘S PUNISHMENT.
1. The sin of Israel is mentioned in verse 11. “He was oppressed because he willingly walked after the commandment.” The Hebrew (tsar) signifies a human ordinance as opposed to a Divine law, and refers here to the commandment of Jeroboam which inculcated calf-worship, on which the kingdom of Israel, established by his revolt, was founded (see 1Ki 12:26-33). This idolatry was willingly, willfully chosen by Ephraim, and it destroyed him. How often the thing chosen by the sinner is the means of his destruction! The Jews cried, “We have no king but Caesar,” and Caesar destroyed them. A nation chooses prosperity, not righteousness, and the prosperity of fools destroys them. Instances from history.
2. The princes of Judah shared this sin of idolatry. (Verse 10) They “were like them that remove the bound.” In a literal sense no doubt this was true. Deu 27:17 was disobeyed. The infringement of another’s rights, whether in business or policy, ever brings a curse. Probably Judah would speculate as to the profit that might be made out of Israel’s losshow its own bounds might be extended when the kingdom of the ten tribes was removed; but the reference in the text is not to that. Hosea alludes to the sin of Judah in breaking down that barrier which idolatry had raised between the two kingdoms, which separated between God’s people and Baal’s people. The act was fatal. It was like the opening of a dyke, which no longer could keep out the floods around; and the tide of invasion swept over Benjamin and Judah. The cornet and trumpet on the beacon-hills of Gibeah and Ramah (verse 8) proclaimed this woe too late to avert it. “I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.” Show how the breaking down of the barriers between the Church and the world, between Christianity and paganism, between the Christian and the godless, in business, society, etc; brings desolation to spiritual life and to the kingdom of Christ.
II. THAT THE WARNING OF GOD IS TO BE SEEN SOMETIMES IN SIGNS OF GRADUAL DECAY. The gradualness of the earlier judgments is pointed out in verse 12 as distinguished from the overwhelming destruction suggested by verse 14. The “moth” and the “rottenness” do their work stealthily and slowly. You take out the cloth laid by: it is consumed. You rest your weight on the furniture: it breaks down with a crash. Perhaps a distinction is suggested here. “The moth” destroys the softer cloth more rapidly than “rottenness” the harder wood. An indication that Judah would be more slowly consumed. The main idea, however, is that destruction would not come at first suddenly and without warning. This is true of the method of him to whom judgment is a strange work. Examples:
1. A nation suffers, from its want of integrity, justice, etc; in depressed trade, severance and suspicion between various classes of society, wars costly in treasure and blood. All this comes far short of national destruction; yet each is a call to sobriety, self-rule, integrity, humiliation before God, lest worse things befall it.
2. An invalid finds his health slowly Impaired. Weakness gradually increases. Senses become less keen. All such symptoms are reminders that he should be seeking after a forgotten God.
3. There is a consuming of character which may be illustrated from this verse. A distaste for what is good creeps over the heart; doubts which at first seem trivial bring insecurity to the religious profession; indulged sins honeycomb the spiritual life, etc. As the moth is hidden and makes no sound, yet does its fatal work, so may men lose innocency and truth, till nothing is left of the old fabric of faith and hope. Therefore pray, “Cleanse thou me from secret faults.”
III. THAT THE TEMPTATION TO THE DISTRESSED IS TO FIND HELP IN MAN RATHER THIS IN GOD. (Verse 13) The “sickness,” or inward disease, refers to moral corruption; the “wound,” caused by a blow from without, to national weakness resulting from wars and political disasters. The first recognition of these evils produced this effect”Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb.” Not two persons, but one referred to here. Jareb (equivalent to “the warrior”) is Hosea’s epithet for Assyria’s king. An account of this incident is given in 2Ch 28:19, 2Ch 28:20, where it is expressly stated that Assyria “helped him not.” The sin and curse involved are pointed out in Jer 17:5, Jer 17:6. How ready we are to fellow Ephraim in this I We involve ourselves in difficulties by our folly and self-seeking, and then try to disentangle ourselves by force or fraud. Examples: A nation bound by cords of its own weaving cuts its way to deliverance by the sword. A man in business becomes embarrassed by overtrading, and tries to right himself by further speculation, which ruins himself and others. A Church fails of the outward prosperity it seeks, and resorts to unholy methods to win transient success. This was the temptation our Lord endured and conquered (Mat 4:8-10): “All these things wilt I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
APPLICATION. To those in sorrow about sin. Beware of getting rid of your anxiety by plunging into gaiety or companionship, but pray to the Father who seeth in secret. Resist the temptation to trust to outward observances, to self-improvement, etc; instead of falling at the feet of him who says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I wilt give you rest.” For none are the words (Hos 6:1) more intended than for you, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.”A.R.
Hos 5:15
The affliction of God’s withdrawal.
Jehovah here threatens to withdraw his presence from his people, until, conscious of their weakness and loneliness, they return to him. In the affliction of the seventy years’ captivity many did seek him. After that night of darkness the dawn of a new day brought a few gleams of hope, and some bestirred themselves “early” to find mercy with God (see Dan 9:3-6).
I. THE CAUSE OF THIS AFFLICTION IS to be found in unrepented sin. 1. The unwillingness of God to send trouble to his creatures is constantly insisted on in Scripture. “He is very pitiful, and of tender mercy;” “Judgment is his strange work,” its object being to show the need we have of the mercy he proffers. Evidences of the loving-kindness of God to his creatures reveal themselves more distinctly as we study their condition and circumstances. Illustrations from insects, birds, and beasts, in their relations to food and habitation. Example in provision for every child of man. The babe is cast in its helplessness upon us. We are to shield it, to foster its life, to foresee and provide for its wants. This is as much for our good as for the child’s good. We learn thereby to conquer ourselves, to exercise frugality and diligence, and the rough nature is softened by the touch of tiny tender fingers. In the ways of Christ “a little child shall lead them.” Then, as life develops, pleasure is found in the sights and sounds of nature, in the exercise of each faculty, etc. “Lord, when I count thy mercies o’er,” etc.
2. There are seeming contradictions, however, to the loving-kindness of God’s rule. The helpless racked with pain, the innocent born to a heritage of shame, the noblest and most useful snatched away by death, etc. Hence heathen philosophy believed in two antagonistic deities. Trace the belief in ancient philosophy and in modern idolatry. Holy Scripture declares there is but one God, concerning whom we read, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” (Isa 45:7). The boldness of that conception stamps it as Divine. We know not the effect on other worlds and beings of the conflict waged here between good and evil. We cannot judge God from what is seen in this tiny fragment of his universe. A sea-anemone in its pool feels the rush of the tide over it and all around it, and its subsequent and certain withdrawal. If it could think, it would argue that the ebb and flow of the tide was God’s law for all life. It knows nothing of fair fertile fields and busy cities, where the moaning of the sea is never heard. Our knowledge of God’s method and character from what is around us is as slight.
3. The revelation of God in Christ shows that the sorrow is rightly mingled with the sinjust as storms are good for a vitiated atmosphere. We cannot breathe without creating poison. If the air were motionless it would be fatal to us and others. By Divine ordinance the air, because it is vitiated and heated, must move; and then comes the draught which chills the invalid and kills him, and the storm which sweeps over the sea and causes wreck. Yet the law which causes these disasters is for the world’s salvation. So evils which would corrupt the earth, as in olden time, are not left unheeded. Sorrow comes till men “acknowledge their offence and seek God’s face.”
II. THE NATURE OF THIS AFFLICTION. “I will return to my place.” God is everywhere; but relatively to us he is sometimes near, sometimes far away. He is to us according to the conditions and desires of our hearts. He is said to withdraw when the sense of his care and favor is gone. This would be no great trouble to some. They have yet to learn that to be apart from God is to be away from light and love and hope forever. It is to be in “the outer darkness.” None of us know to the full the sweetness of the Divine presence, and therefore do not completely know the bitterness of its withdrawal. Who of us has prayed till the heavens were opened, and we saw visions of God? Who of us has gazed on Christ till he was transfigured before us, and we cried, “It is good for us to be here?” Who of us knows the deepest meaning of the promise, “If any man open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me”? It is in proportion as we have realized these blessings that we can realize this curse. Imagine yourself stricken down by fatal illness, growing sensibly weaker, no hope of recovery and no God near; going down into the darkness of death, feeling in vain for a hand that does not meet yoursa God-forsaken man! Or read the utterances of men who knew more of God than we. See the agony of the psalmist as he prays, “Be not silent unto me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit” (Psa 28:1; also Job 13:24; Psa 44:23, Psa 44:24, etc). If the message comes to the nation, to the Church, or to you, “I will go and return to my place,” no organization we can frame, no force we can muster, will avail us. It will be time for us (as it was for Israel when Jehovah refused to go up amongst them, and promised only indirect guidance) to put off our ornaments, to bewail our sin, to acknowledge our offence, and seek him early. “Oh, satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”
III. THE RESULTS OF THIS AFFLICTION. “In their affliction they will seek me early.”
1. Acknowledgment of sin is the first sign of the change. The reference is not to the unconsidered declaration that we are “miserable sinners,” but to the intelligent and prayerful confession which follows on that self-examination which affliction does so much to stimulate. When severe weather keeps us within doors, we discover the faults of our house. When the vessel is under the stress of storm, her weak places reveal themselves. So with character, when thoughts are driven in upon ourselves. In society a man asks himself, “What have I?” in solitude he asks himself, “What am I?” A true answer to that question leads to confession. Acknowledgment of sin is not synonymous with the cry of pain or despair. See how David distinguishes between these in his own experience in Psa 32:1-11. He speaks of himself as “roaring” with his pain, yet that brought no relief; but he adds, “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord: and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” The same distinction is drawn by Hosea himself (Hos 7:14), “And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds.” If a man were on the rack the executioner would not stay his hand because of his shrieks, but the first whispered words of a confession would give instant relief.
2. The seeking after God is a further sign of this change. We may condemn ourselves, we may resolve to be holier, we may confess our faults to our fellow-man, without having the true repentance described here. Judas was conscious of sin, and it drove him to despair; but Peter, when contrite, went to the Lord’s feet, and was able still to say,” Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” “In their affliction they shall seek me early.” To bring this about we are sometimes so encircled by troubles that we cannot look over them or see beyond them, but can merely look up to the hills whence true help comes. Apply this to the Christian who has been forgetting God, and to the sinner who has never known him.
APPEAL. Wait not till the sorrows of life make you feel your need of God. We may be thankful that we may go even at the last, but how ignoble to leave it till then! Point out the shame of leaving the gladness of youth unconsecrated to him who gave it; of waiting till the cares of life so press upon the spirit that, weary and heartsick, we return to the Father; of delaying till the evening of life is deepening, and enfeebled by age we say, “Now let us turn to God.” Show how destitute of magnanimity, how fraught with peril, such a course must be. Whether in affliction or in joy, “seek him early.”A.R.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
Hos 5:3
Divine omniscience.
Uninspired teachers often act upon imperfect information. Ministers of religion take some people to be better and others to be worse than they really are. From this unavoidable infirmity of men the omniscient God is free. In dealing with a sinful soul or a sinful community he speaks and acts from a perfect knowledge.
I. THE FACT OF DIVINE OMNISCIENCE. It is incredible that there should be any bounds to Divine knowledge; yet it is scarcely to be realized by us that there should be none. See how this thought inspired the psalmist (Psa 139:1-24). This natural attribute of the Creator is one mode, so to speak, of his infinite perfection.
II. THE BEARING OF THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE UPON THE STATE OF THE SINNER.
1. No aggravation of the sinner’s guilt is hid. If Ephraim sinned against light, this was known to Jehovah; if Israel rejected the counsels of the prophets divinely sent, this was not hid from him.
2. No extenuation of the sinner’s guilt is hid. The temptation to which he yields, the weakness which succumbs, the regret and remorse which follow sin,all are known to Heaven.
3. The judgment which God passes is righteous and unquestionable. There is no escape from the Divine tribunal to our own; for the voice within accords with that from above.
III. THE PRACTICAL LESSONS OF THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE.
1. It should lead to a full and immediate confession. God knows all, and if we do not acknowledge our sin it will not be hid from him. Whilst “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive.”
2. It should lead us to watchfulness and prayer. If his eye is ever upon us, let our eyes ever be up unto him; if hid ear is ever open, let our cry ever ascend unto him.
3. It should lead the accepted soul to constant fellowship with God. To the Christian the thought of the Divine omniscience is fraught with holy, filial, rejoicing confidence. It is not only our sins that are not hidden from him; he knows our prayers, our love, our hopes, our all.T.
Hos 5:6
Divine withdrawal.
When the Lord invited Israel’s approach, Israel remained afar off in unbelief and impenitence. And when, in distress and anxiety, Israel drew near the Lord, it was to find that he would no longer reveal his face or bestow his favor.
I. THE OCCASION OF THE DIVINE WITHDRAWAL. The Scriptures often represent the Lord as hiding his face, as turning away his ear, as repenting him of the favor he had shown, as hiding himself. Why such action? Surely this withdrawal is always and only because of human sin. Whilst his subjects are loyal, they always find him gracious and accessible; but from the rebellious and obstinate he withdraws himself in displeasure.
II. THE SIGNS OF THE DIVINE WITHDRAWAL. In the case of Israel prayers were unheard, sacrifices were disregarded, enemies were suffered to triumph, and national disasters followed one another thick and fast. God has ways of withdrawing himself from a soul as well as from a nation. He removes the joyful light of his countenance, and suffers afflictions to befall those from whom tie hides his face for a moment.
III. THE PURPOSES OF THE DIVINE WITHDRAWAL. It is a purpose of mercy, not of malevolence or vindictiveness. If men will not obey God, he leaves them to taste the fruits of disobedience. When they are wearied of his absence, and turn unto him, it is with great mercies that he gathers them.T.
Hos 5:7
Human treachery.
Israel’s idolatry was unfaithfulness and treason to Jehovah. And every one who does wickedly in departing from God is similarly guilty, and is similarly marked by Divine omniscience and regarded with Divine displeasure.
I. THE PROOFS OF TREACHERY. The main principle of infidelity and traitorousness is the preference of another for God. Whether our own carnal gratification, or the applause of men, or the wealth of this world, be desired rather than the service and favor of God, in every such case treason, spiritual treason, has been committed. This is shown by idolatry, by sensuality, by worldliness, by pride; all of which are evidences of a treasonable intent.
II. THE SIN OF TREACHERY. This appears when we consider:
1. God’s claim upon our fidelity. In calling us his and treating us as his, in providing for all our wants, our Divine Lord has established and exhibited his right to our loyal subjection and service.
2. God’s grace and indulgence. He has shown His affection by his considerate care for our happiness. To be disloyal to him is base insensibility and ingratitude.
III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF TREACHERY. God is as a king, who cannot be indifferent to the treason, the rebellion, of his subjects; he is as a husband, who cannot pass over the infidelity of his wife. He will exercise his sovereign power, vindicate his righteous claims, and punish the disloyal and the traitorous. To avoid a doom so awful, “kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way.”T.
Hos 5:13
Human physicians helpless.
The reference here is to both Israel and Judah; for both kingdoms were alike suffering, alike guilty of reliance on human help and deliverance, and alike in their experience of its utter vanity.
I. NATIONAL DISEASE AND SUFFERING. The language is, of course, figurative, but it is very expressive. Whoever reads the chronicles of the chosen people must become familiar with the civil troubles, afflictions, and disasters they were called upon to endure. Had they been faithful to God and to one another they would have been spared very much which they brought upon themselves of sorrow and of disaster.
II. THE APPEAL TO POLITICAL PHYSICIANS. It was to Assyria that the Israelites were often so foolish as to appeal. Beset by Babylon on the cast and Egypt on the south, the Hebrews were often at a loss how to steer their course. Their danger was lest they should rely for healing and for safety upon “an arm of flesh.” It was not unnatural that they should do so; but it was wrong and foolish policy, as the event always proved.
III. THE POWERLESSNESS OF THE NATIONS TO HEAL THE MALADIES AND WOUNDS OF ISRAEL. The children of the covenant gained nothing by going after other gods or by courting the alliance of heathen kings. These physicians, when called in, could effect no cure and could afford no relief. In this we discern a symbol of the powerlessness of all human friends and helpers to bring deliverance to the captive soul, health to the spiritually sick and suffering, relief to the burdened.
“I have tried, and tried in vain,
Other ways to ease my pain.”
IV. THE LESSON OF THIS EXPERIENCE. It is an easy one to understand, but a difficult one to practice. We are summoned to cast aside all confidence in human helpers, and to rely simply and only upon the Divine Physician. In him is salvation. “There is balm in Gilead; there is a physician there.” Christ is the Healer alike of body and of soul, of individuals and of nations; and his healing is both for time and for eternity.T.
Hos 5:15
Fruits of affliction.
Prosperity is not so unmixed a blessing as men are prone to imagine. It often withdraws the attention from the unseen world and the eternal future. And, on the other hand, much as men may dread adversity, multitudes have had reason to be grateful for affliction. “Before I was afflicted I went astray,” etc.
I. AFFLICTION IS DIVINELY APPOINTED. The order of things, as a result of which troubles and privations befall men, is constituted by Divine wisdom. In the Hebrew manner of thought this fact is conveyed by the language put into the lips of Jehovah, “I will go and return to my place.”
“Lot us be patient; these severe afflictions
Not from the ground arise.”
II. AFFLICTION IS INTENDED TO DIRECT THE THOUGHTS TO THE SUFFERER‘S SINS. It is often idle curiosity to speculate upon the connection between disobedience and particular troubles. But, as a general principle, sin is the root of which suffering is the fruit. And times of affliction call upon the “tried” and harassed to scrutinize their own conduct and their own heart, “till they acknowledge their offense,” or “hold themselves guilty.” Men go on sinning, from one crime or folly to another, and confirm themselves in their evil courses, until a check comes, until calamity overtakes them, until they are constrained to ask themselvesHave we forgotten that the world is ruled by a righteous God, who is angry with the wicked every day? Thus they are led, by God’s grace, to confession and to penitence.
III. AFFLICTION IS INTENDED TO DIRECT THE THOUGHTS TO GOD. It is not enough for the offender to look inwards to himself; he must look upwards to his God. “Till they seek my face;” “They will seek me early.” In days of calm, of pleasure, of health, of plenty, God has been forgotten. But “sweet are the uses of adversity;” and there is no use sweeter, more profitable, than thisits tendency to raise the mind to heaven. To seek forgiveness for careless, forgetful days, to seek the favor which has been justly forfeited, to seek the help which has been despised,such is the attitude of the humbled and the contrite. And such suppliants shall not seek the face of God in vain.T.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Hos 5:1-3
National depravity.
“Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.” “With the words, ‘Hear ye this,’ the reproof of the sins of Israel makes a new start, and is specially addressed to the priests and the king’s house, i.e. the king and his court, to announce to the leaders of the nation the punishment that will follow their apostasy from God and their idolatry, by which they have plunged the people and kingdom headlong into destruction” (Keil and Delitzsch). These words lead us to consider the depravity of a nation.
I. PRIESTS AND PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED IN IT. “Hear ye this.” All orders and degrees of men are here cited to appear before the Almighty on account of the sin of the country. Both priests and rulers, clergy and kings, ought, not only to be unimplicated in the moral corruption of a country, but to be evermore the most zealous and efficient agents in purifying the spirit and elevating the moral character of a nation. In their elevated positions they should not allow a breath of general depravity to touch them, but pour down evermore upon all grades of people sentiments and influences that shall purify and bless. Alas! it has been otherwise; both have, for ages, proved the greatest contaminators and curses of their race. Priests have oftentimes been fiends in sacerdotal robes, and kings beastly voluptuaries in royal garb and stately gait. No man is a real priest of God, and no man a true king, who is not the most distinguished exemplar and promoter of those heavenly virtues which alone can confer peace, stability, and honor upon a country.
II. UNFAITHFULNESS TO GOD IS A PROOF OF IT. “For judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.” “As hunters spread their net and snares upon the hills Mizpah and Tabor, so ye have snared the people into idolatry, and made them your prey by injustice.” As Mizpah and Tabor mean a “watch-tower” and a “lofty place,” a fit scene for hunters; playing on the words, the prophet implies, “In the lofty place in which I have set you, whereas ye ought to hare been the watchers of the people, guarding them from evil, ye have been as hunters entrapping them into it.” The meaning is “These kings and priests use their elevated positions in turning men away from the true God.” “And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.” “Revolters” means apostates, and these apostates were “profound,” deeply rooted, sunk into the lowest depths of idolatry. “To make slaughter.” Their offerings were not sacrifices, they were mere slaughters, butcheries; there was nothing sacred about them. Here, then, is a proof of the general depravity of a nation. A nation that is unfaithful to its true God is a tree rotten in its roots, a river poisoned in its spring. Philosophically there can be no morality where there is no fidelity to him whose existence is the foundation and whose will is the rule of all virtue.
III. THE JUDGE OF THE WOULD IS COGNIZANT OF IT. “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me.” No covering can conceal it, no argument will disprove it. It lays bare to the eye of Omniscience. “I know Ephraim.” Though they were ignorant of him, he knew them and read them through and through. Nations often cover over their depravity By the promotion of benevolent institutions by encouraging the ordinances of public worship, and by a public profession of religion. But there is an eye that penetrates through the thick coveringhe sees the devil in the angel; “He searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins of the children of men.”
CONCLUSION. Suppose not that national depravity is something distinct from the depravity of the individual. It is but the aggregation of individual depravities. Nor suppose that, because priests and kings may be the mightiest agents in promoting national immorality and irreligion, each individual in the nation is less accountable for his sins on that account. No priest or king can compel us to sin. Sin is an act of freedom, and for it each man is held responsible to the Most High. Daniel Webster was once asked, “What is the most important thought you ever entertained?” He replied, after a moment’s reflection, “The most important thought I ever had was my individual responsibility to God.”D.T.
Hos 5:4
Necessary preliminaries to a godly life.
“They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God,” etc. Preachers do not always deal wisely with their hearers. They call upon men to repent; they often describe repentance with metaphysical accuracy, and enforce it with resistless logic and pressing rhetoric. So with faith; they explain its nature and enforce its duty. They say, “Repent or be damned,” “Believe or be damned.” They seldom go further. But few have any notion that there is a certain way to repent and believe, fewer still indicate the nature of that way. Long have I had the impression, which deepens with years, that there is as truly a way to “repent and believe,” as there is a way to cultivate the farm, build the house, or master any art or science. The text implies this, “They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God.” What is the way? How are men to frame their doings as to turn unto their God?
I. BY THINKING ON CERTAIN SUBJECTS. We ever act from motives when we act as men. But what are motives? The creation of our own thoughts. The man who centers his thoughts on the advantages of wealth, or fame, or knowledge, turns to their pursuit. His thoughts excite his feelings, and his feelings urge him to a resolution. But what are the subjects which thought must dwell on in order that we may move religiously? If I am to repent I must think of my sins in relation to the character of the holy God and the self-sacrificing Christ. It is only as I muse that the fires of penitence will burn. If I am to believe, I must think upon the object who alone has the attributes to command my highest confidence and unbounded trust. If I am to love supremely, I must meditate on the perfections of him who is supremely good. In fact, if a man is to turn to any new course of conduct, he must have new motives; and if he is to have new motives, he must have new thoughts. “I thought of my ways, I turned my feet unto thy statutes.” Thought is the rudder of the soul; as it is turned, the vessel takes the direction.
II. By thinking on certain subjects IN A CERTAIN WAY. There is a way to think. You may think on the most serious subjects in such a way as to produce profanity and mirth. How must you think, then, on these subjects?
1. With concentration. The whole thinking force of the soul must be centered on them. The most solemn of them, taken up lightly and dispatched with a reflection or two, will not produce the result. if you would bring the beams of the sun into a scorching flame, you must draw them to a focus. And if you would make the great truths of religion kindle repentance within you, you must focalize them by a process of intense thinking.
2. With persistency. It is not enough to bend even the whole force of the mind upon them now and then at distant intervals; it must be done consecutively. They must be kept constantly before the mind as objects in its horizon so grand and solemn that all else shall seem trifling and contemptible.
3. With devotion. God must be brought to them. His presence and aid must be invoked.
III. By thinking on certain subjects WITH A PRACTICAL INTENT. TO think upon religious subjects in order to increase our theological knowledge or to make our feelings glow for a time with a religious sentiment would be of little service; but to think in order to translate the thought into action, to embody the idea in the lifethis is the way. They must be thought upon in order to answer the question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
CONCLUSION. “This is the way; walk ye in it.” Think. Thoughtlessness is the curse of humanity. Think on right subjects; wrong subjects will do you harm. Think on right subjects in a right way; thinking on right subjects in a wrong way must prove disastrous. Think on right subjects with a practical intent, not for speculation nor sentimentalizing, but for actionreal, living, godly action. Thus frame your doings, and “turn unto the Lord.” Think, brethren, think; there is nothing like noble thoughts. “It is a grand thing when, in the stillness of the soul, thought bursts into flame, and the intuitive vision comes like inspiration; when breathing thoughts clothe themselves in burning words, winged as it were with lightning; or when a great law of the universe reveals itself to the mind of genius, and, where all was darkness, his single word bids light be, and all is order where chaos and confusion were. Or when the truths of human nature shape themselves forth in the creative fancies of one life, the million-minded poet, and you recognize the rare power of heart which sympathizes with and can reproduce all that is found in man” (F.W. Robertson).D.T.
Hos 5:6
Too late.
“They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.” This verse directs us to two subjects of thought.
I. THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL WORKS. “They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord.” “Seek the Lord:” this implies a distance between man and his Maker. The Bible abounds with allusions to this distance. What is it? It is not the distance of being, for both are in close vital contact. “In him we live and move and have our being.” It is the distance of character. Between the sympathies, principles, and aim of the two there is a distance vast as infinitude. “His thoughts are not our thoughts,” etc. Hence the great work of man is to seek the Lord morallyto seek his character, and thus become a “partaker of the Divine nature.”
1. This is a work in which all men should engage. The grand duty of all souls is to be “holy, even as he is holy.” Holiness is the condition of fellowship with him in “whose presence there is joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
2. This is a work which all men must attend to sooner or later. The time hastens on when the most wicked and worthless man on earth will wake up to the importance of holiness, and strenuously try for his friendship. Of all works, then, this is the most important. Every ether avocation of life is puerile compared with this. Man’s great want is the Lordthe Lord’s character, the Lord’s fellowship. Without this, whatever else he has, he is lostlost to happiness, to usefulness, and to the grand ends of his being.
II. The most important of all works UNDERTAKEN TOO LATE. “They shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.” Though they take with them their flocks and their herds, and are prepared to make the greatest sacrifices, their efforts are fruitless”He hath withdrawn himself from them.” This is the language of accommodation. He puts forth no effort to conceal himself, he alters not his position, but he seems to withdraw from them. As the white cliffs of Albion seem to withdraw from the emigrant as his vessel bears him away to distant shores, so God seems to withdraw from the man who seeks him “too late.”
CONCLUSION. “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.” D.T.
Hos 5:8
An earnest ministry.
“Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin.” The prophet in vision sees Divine judgment coming on the rebellious nation, and commands an alarm to be given of the approach of the enemy. Gileah (Jos 18:28) and Ramah (18:25) were two elevated places in the tribe of Benjamin, and were well adapted for signals on account of their lofty elevation. The introduction of these particular towns, which did not belong to the tribe of Israel, but to Judah, is intended to indicate that the enemy had already conquered the ten tribes, and had advanced to that on the border of Judah. The idea of the passage isGive an earnest warning of the judgment about to break on the people, sound the alarm, and startle the population, The subject suggested is that of an earnest ministry. Notice
I. THE NATURE OF AN EARNEST MINISTRY. “Cry aloud.” Let the whole soul go forth in the work. Let us not mistake the nature of earnestness. It is not noise. Ignorant people imagine that the minister who makes the greatest noise, roars and raves the most in the pulpit, or parades his doings most in journals and reports, is the earnest man. “A celebrated preacher, distinguished for the eloquence of his pulpit preparations, exclaimed on his death-bed, ‘Speak not to me of my sermons. Alas! I was fiddling whilst Rome was burning.'” It is not frightening people. Often he who is the most successful by graphic and impassioned descriptions of the judgment day and hell fires, in terrifying men, is considered the most earnest. This is a mistakea popular and fatal mistake. It is not bustle. He who is always on the “go,” whose limbs are always on the stretch, into this house and that house, into this meeting and that, who is never at rest, men are always disposed to regard as an earnest man. Genuine earnestness is foreign to all these things. It has nothing in it of the noise and rattle of the fussy brook; it is like the deep stream rolling its current silently, resistlessly, and without pause. An earnest ministry is living. It is not mere preaching or service, occasional or even systematic; it is the influence of the whole man. It is the “Word” made flesh; so permeating the whole man that every word, act, and expression are as the blasts of a Divine trumpet, rousing sinners to a sense of their moral danger. Such a ministry is a matter of necessity. The Divine thing in the man becomes irrepressible, it breaks out as sunbeams through the clouds: “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.” Such a ministry is constant. It is not a professional service; it is as regular as the functions of life; it is a thing that is “in season and out of season”in shops and in sanctuaries, on hearths as well as in pulpits. Such a ministry is mighty. Men can stand before the most thunderous words and violent attitudinizations, but they cannot stand before such a ministry as this; they are before it as snow before the sun.
“Oh! let all the soul within you
For the truth’s sake go abroad!
Strike! let every nerve and sinew
Tell on agestell for God.”
II. THE NEED OF AN EARNEST MINISTRY. Why was the “comet” to be now blown in Gibeah, and the” trumpet” in Ramah? Because there was danger. The moral danger to which souls around us are exposed is great. There is the danger of losing, not existence, but all that makes existence worth havinglove, hope, power, friendship, etc. “To be carnally minded is death.” It is near. It is not the danger of an invading army heard in the distance. The enemy has entered the soul, and the work of devastating has commenced. It is increasing. The condition of the unregenerate soul gets worse and worse every hour. Brothers, let us be earnest in our work, always “abounding in the work of the Lord!”
“Time is earnest, passing by;
Death is earnest, drawing nigh;
Life is earnest; when ’tis o’er
Thou returnest nevermore.”
D.T.
Hos 5:12
The moth; or, God’s quiet method of destroying.
“Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.” “And I am like the moth to Ephraim, and like the worm to the house of Judah” (Keil and Delitzsch). “The moth and worm are figures employed to represent destructive powersthe moth destroying clothes (Isa 1:9; Psa 39:12), the worm injuring both wood and flesh.” The words indicate God‘s quiet method of destroying. In two or three verses in this chapter he is spoken of as proceeding in his work of destruction as a lion: “I will be unto Ephraim as a lion.” Here as a “moth”working out ruin silently, slowly, and gradually.
I. HE WORKS DECAY THUS SOMETIMES IN‘ THE BODIES OF MEN. Oftentimes men die violently and suddenly, but more frequently by some insidious hidden disease which, like a “moth,” works away quietly at the vitals, gradually poisoning the blood and undermining the constitution. In truth, the seed of death, like a moth, gnaws away day after day and year after year in every human frame. The moth is often so small and secret in its workings that medical science can seldom find it out, and, when it finds it out, though it may check it for a time, it cannot destroy it: the moth defies all medicine. Truly we are crushed by a moth. At the heart of some of the strongest trees in the forest there are hosts of invisible insects noiselessly at work; the forester knows it not, the tree seems healthy; until one fine morning, before a strong gust of wind, it falls a victim to these silent workers. So with the strongest man amongst us.
II. HE WORKS DECAY THUS SOMETIMES IN THE ENTERPRISES OF MEN. Often men find it impossible to succeed in their worldly avocations. Mercantile establishments that have been prosperous for generations have the “moth” in them. For years the fabric has been so firm that it has made but little way, the tree has grown and flourished though the worm was at its root; but the time comes when the effects are seen, and the existing proprietors begin to wonder they do not go on as usual, why the fruit is not so juicy and abundant as in their father’s time. One of their projects brings poor results, and another fails, at last the establishment collapses; the outsiders wonder, and a panic is created in the market. What is the matter? There has been a “moth” there for years. It has not been conducted by godly men, and that in a right spirit; so God sent a “moth,” and the moth has been working away for years silently, secretly, and gradually, until all the vitality has been eaten up.
III. HE WORKS DECAY THUS SOMETIMES IN THE KINGDOMS OF MEN. For a time a country flourishes; there is a vigor, an elasticity, an enterprise, a love of justice and honor in the spirit of the people, and all things seem to prosper. Its commerce flourishes, its laws are respected, its influence great amongst the nations, but there is a “moth” in its heart. Effeminacy, luxury, ambition, greed, self-indulgence, servility, irreverence,these are moths, and decay sets in, and it falls, not by the sword of the invader, but by its own “rottenness.” We fear there is a “moth “secretly but regularly working out the ruin of England. “I will be unto Ephraim as a moth.” it was thus with the nations of antiquity. Where are they? The moth has eaten them.
“When nations go astray from age to age,
The effects remain a fatal heritage;
Bear witness, Egypt, thy huge monuments
Of priestly fraud and tyranny austere!
Bear witness, thou, whose only name presents
All holy feelings to religion dear
In earth’s dark circlet once the precious gem
Of living light, O fallen Jerusalem!”
(Robert Southey)
IV. HE WORKS DECAY THUS SOMETIMES IN THE CHURCHES OF MEN. What destroyed the Churches of Asia Minor? The “moth” of worldliness and religious errors. Some of our modern Churches are obviously slowly rotting away. A realizing faith in the invisible, brotherly love, practical self-sacrifice, Christliness of spirit,these, which constitute the moral heart of the true Church, are being eaten up by the moth of secularity, sectarianism, superstition, and religious pretence. Thus, too, individual souls lose their spiritual life and strength. Many a soul, once earnestly alive to the higher things of being, has lost its vigor and fallen into spiritual decay. God deliver us from those errors of heart that like a moth eat away the life! “We read,” says Archbishop Trench, “in books about the West Indies of a huge bat, which goes under the ugly name of the vampire bat. It has obtained this name, sucking as it does the blood of sleepers, even as the vampire is fabled to do. So far, indeed, there can be no doubt; but it is further reported, whether truly or not I will not undertake to say, to fan them with its mighty wings, that so they may not wake from their slumbers, but may be hushed into deeper sleep, while it is thus draining away the blood from their veins. Sin has often presented itself to me as such a vampire bat, possessing as it does the same fearful power to lull its victims into an even deeper slumber, to deceive those whom it is also destroying.”D.T.
Hos 5:13
Wrong methods of relief.
“When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.” The” moth” had so far eaten into the political heart of Ephraim and Judah that they began to feel the wound and to grow conscious of their weakness. They felt, it may be, that from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there was no soundness in them, but wounds and bruises and putrefied sores. Under a grievous sense of their disease and weakness, instead of applying to Jehovah for help, they went “to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb.” The Assyrian king was ever ready for his own aggrandizement to mix himself up with the affairs of neighboring states, and profess to undertake Israel and Judah’s cause. As the real disease of the two kingdoms was apostasy to the Lord, which ever gives rise to all the evils that destroy political states as well as individual souls, we are justified in giving the text a spiritual application; and we raise from it the following remarks:
I. Men are OFTEN MADE CONSCIOUS of their spiritual malady. Depravity is a disease of the heart; it is often represented as such in the Bible, and it is so. As a disease it impairs the energies, mars the enjoyment of the soul, and incapacitates it for the right discharge of the duties of life. Often men remain insensible to this disease, but the time comes when they become deeply conscious of it. As “Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound,” they see their moral wretchedness, and cry out, “Who shall deliver us from the bondage of this sin and death?” A great point is gained when the sinner becomes conscious of his sins.
II. Men under a consciousness of their spiritual malady FREQUENTLY RESORT TO WRONG MEANS OF RELIEF. Ephraim now “went to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb.” The Assyrians had neither the power nor the disposition to effect their restoration to political health. How often men whose consciences are touched by the events of providence and the truths of the gospel appeal for help to some moral Assyrian! Sometimes they go to scenes of carnal amusement; sometimes to skeptical philosophizings; sometimes to false religion‘s. These are all “miserable comforters,” “broken cisterns.”
III. That resorting to wrong methods of relief WILL PROW UTTERLY INEFFECTIVE. “Yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.” What can worldly amusements, skeptical reasonings, and false religions do towards healing a sin-sick soul? Nothing. Like anodyne, they may deaden the pain for a minute only, that the anguish may return with intenser acuteness. There is but one Physician, and that is Christ. Public amusers, skeptical philosophers, entertaining novelists, ceremonial priests,these have been tried a thousand times, and have failedsignally failed. Christ only can bind up the broken-hearted. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Hos 5:1-7
God and man.
All classes are addressed by the prophetpriests, king, nobles, the whole house of Israel. The prophecy makes an advance. In the previous chapter judgment is threatened; in this it is announced as imminent. Judah also is menaced with punishment (Hos 5:5, Hos 5:10, Hos 5:12).
I. GOD WILL ENSNARE THE ENSNARERS. (Hos 5:1) The dignitaries-priests, kings, and nobleshad led the people astray. They had put stumbling-blocks in their way. They had become a snare to them. Mizpah and Tabor may be referred to as conspicuous centers of wickedness. The figure is taken from the ensnaring of birds. We may ensnare:
1. Through evil example. The example of a court, of the aristocracy, of ministers of religion, of the wealthy, has a powerful influence on the tone of morals and religion. If evil, it gives an immense impetus to corruption. The multitudes think nothing wrong which they see in their betters (cf. Massillon’s sermon on ‘Des Exemples des Grands’).
2. Through traps set for virtue. The idolatrous festivals patronized by the great were direct temptations put in the way of the people. What shall we say of the countenance given by many in high positions in our own land to the turf, to demoralizing sports, to gambling institutions, to Sunday festivals, etc.? The toleration and licensing of vice by public authorities is the spreading of a “snare.” Every effort should rather be made to remove stumbling-blocks from the midst of a community.
3. By direct solicitation to evil The vicious take a wicked delight in seducing others. They gloat in seeing the innocent brought down to their own level. They are active and unremitting in compassing men’s destruction. They cannot bear that any should remain to be a rebuke to them. Hence the ensnaring influence of evil companionships. God, however, declares that the ensnarers in Israel shall not escape his judgment. “Judgment is toward you.” He will dig a pit for those who are digging pits for their fellows. He will take them in their own net, and destroy them suddenly (Psa 7:11-16; Psa 9:15, Psa 9:16).
II. GOD IS MORE PROFOUND THAN THE PLOTTERS. (Hos 5:2, Hos 5:3) The revolters in Israel were “profound to make slaughter.” They laid their plots deep. They concocted conspiracies (Hos 7:3-7) and planned deeds of blood (Hos 6:8, Hos 6:9). They thought that no one knew of their doings. But God was more profound than they were. “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me.” They would find him “a rebuker” of them all. All their sins were “naked and open” to himtheir plottings, their “whoredom,” and everything else.
1. The wicked pride themselves on their deep cunning. They imagine that their deeds are wrapped in impenetrable darkness. They are strong in a fancied security. They think no one can find them out.
2. They forget about God. All the while God is watching their doings; he is privy to their most secret counsels; he knows how to counterwork and defeat their plots; he will at last “bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil” (Ecc 12:14).
III. GOD IS NOT REGARDLESS OF THOSE WHO REFUSE TO KNOW HIM. (Hos 5:4, Hos 5:5)
1. The sinner puts God out of his thoughts. Israel had turned its back on Jehovah. It would not know him. “They will not frame their doings,” etc. The cause of this was the evil heart of unbelief in the people, leading them to depart from the living God. “The spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them.” The alternative rendering of the clause first suggests that, once the sinner has embarked on evil courses, he finds it difficult again to leave them: “Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God.” The “spirit of whoredoms” binds the transgressor in love to ways that are not, right. These fix themselves as habits, customs. The latent sense of wrongdoing in the mind will not allow of further debate with conscience. The sinner, in this condition, is apt to think that, because he has succeeded in forgetting God, God has forgotten him as well.
2. God, however, is not forgetful of the sinner. With the latter it may be “out of sight, out of mind; ‘ but there is neither” out of sight” nor “out of mind” with God. The “pride of Israel” here (Hos 5:5) and in Hos 7:10 is best interpretedafter the analogy of the similar expression, “excellency [pride] of Jacob,” in Amo 8:7of God himself, Israel’s glory. Israel had forgotten God, but God remembered Israel, and testified against it “to its face.” He testified now
(1) by reproofs; and would testify afterwards
(2) by judgments. “Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity.” What applied to Israel applied also to Judah”Judah also shall fall with them;” and applies to every sinner. God testifies to the sinner of his sins, of his ingratitude, of his folly, and of his certain punishment. This, through conscience, in the Word, by the Spirit, by the reproofs of his servants.
IV. GOD CAN WITHDRAW HIMSELF WHEN MEN SEEK. (Amo 8:6, Amo 8:7)
1. The time would come when, convinced of its folly, Israel would begin to seek eagerly after God. “They shall go with their flocks and with their herds,” etc.
2. But it would then be too late. “He hath withdrawn himself from them.” The reason why God would thus withdraw himself would be that there was no sincerity in their approach. They would come with flocks and herds, but not with the essential sacrificethe contrite spirit. The character of Israel was not such as held out any hope of genuine repentance. “They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,” etc. (Amo 8:7). The right time to seek the Lord is while he “waits to be gracious.” After that it is too late (Pro 1:24 34).
3. They would be cut off in a short time, and in the very midst of their sacrifices. “A month shall devour them with their portions” (cf. Zec 11:8).J.O.
Hos 5:8-12
Ephraim and Judah.
The judgment is represented in these verses as already fallen. Shrill cornet and trumpet blasts announce the presence of the invaders. They fill the land. They are at the borders of Judah. They menace Benjamin.
I. IS THE GRASP OF THE DESTROYER. (Hos 5:8, Hos 5:9)
1. Ephraim‘s destruction came upon him suddenly. It was on him before he was aware. Ere almost he could realize the fact, the land was in possession of invaders. It is thus that God’s judgments commonly overtake transgressors. While they are saying to themselves, “Peace and safety,” “sudden destruction cometh upon them” (1Th 5:3). They mocked at the warning and professed to disbelieve it. Now, to their amazement, they find God’s word come true. They are caught in the wave of judgment. “The sorrows of death compass them, the pains of hell get hold upon them.” It was so at the Flood (Mat 24:38, Mat 24:39); at Sodom (Luk 17:28, Luk 17:29); at the destruction of Jerusalem (Luk 17:30, Luk 17:31); and shall be so at the Lord’s second advent (Mat 24:48-51).
2. When Ephraim‘s hour came he was powerless to save himself. He might blow his trumpets; he might raise cries of frantic distress; he might warn Benjamin; but he could not deliver his own soul. So, in the day of judgment, the haughtiest of those who now exalt themselves against God will find themselves to be impotent. They will find their foe to be one against whom there is no contending. They may cry for mercy; may shout to the mountains and rocks to fall on them (Rev 6:16); may plead, like Dives, for their “five brethren” (Luk 17:27, Luk 17:28); but they will know that for themselves there is no hope in resistance.
3. Ephraim‘s desolation would be complete. “Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke,” etc.
(1) The judgment would fall in successive strokes. The land was frequently overrun by the Assyrians, prior to the final overthrow. There is an evolution in God’s judgments. They run on till they are fulfilled. “That which shall surely be.”
(2) It would be entire. The land would be reduced to utter desolation.
(3) It would be lasting”great plagues, and of long continuance” (Deu 28:59). So the last clause may be rendered, “I have declared what is lasting.”
II. THE DANGER TO JUDAH. (Hos 5:8, Hos 5:10)
1. The ruin of one sinner is a warning to others. Judah was partaker in Israel’s sins. The destruction of Ephraim was therefore of very special significance to the sister state. It portended judgment to it also. When the northern kingdom was in the hands of the foe, the cry might well be raised, “After thee, O Benjamin.”
(1) The sinner overtaken by judgment gives warning. He is now conscious, if he was not previously, that” it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). Transgressors have often died warning those related to them against drinking, sabbath-breaking, bad company, and whatever else brought them to their shameful end.
(2) Conscience gives warning. When judgment is seen descending on another, conscience is quick to interpret the meaning for one s self. “After thee, O Benjamin.”
2. The ruin of one sinner foretells judgment on others. It not merely warns of it; it predicts it. It says, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luk 13:3). Judah’s punishment was as certain as Ephraim’s.
(1) Judah’s sins called for punishment. “The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound.” They changed God’s commandments. They refused to be bound by the Law God had given them. They altered the limits of conduct to suit themselves. They called that good which God called evil. They were thus like boundary-removers. All sin is a boundary-removing. It is the refusal to abide within prescribed limits. It is “transgression,” a stepping across. It is “lawlessness” (1Jn 3:4).
(2) God had threatened Judah with punishment. That threatening he now ratifies and repeats. Ephraim’s overthrow was a pledge of its fulfillment. “I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.” The judgment predicted is not of so fatal a kind as that on Ephraim, but it would be still very terrible. It is well to remember that there is wrath in God; that it is roused against sin; and that, in its effects, when poured forth, it is dreadful and overwhelming. Here it is figured as a flood which carries all before it.
III. MORAL CAUSATION. (Hos 5:11, Hos 5:12) The moral state of Ephraim and Judah, and the judgments which overtook them, stand in the relation of cause and effect. There is nothing arbitrary in the Divine government. God but gives to the sinner what his own doings have earned (Hos 4:9).
1. Judah‘s sin and Ephraim‘s sin were practically the same sin.
(1) Judah’s princes removed the bound; but this also was the sin of Ephraim. What was the institution of the calves but a removing of bouncer set by God’s commandments? It was the substituting of a human statute for a Divinethe setting aside of a prohibition of the Decalogue.
(2) The people of Ephraim “walked willingly after the commandment,” i.e. after the man-made statute; but so also did the people of Judah. They followed the example of their princes. Both kingdoms were antinomian.
2. Judah‘s punishment and Ephraim‘s punishment would accordingly be alike. “Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.” The agency at work in their destruction, while supernatural in origin, would work through natural causes and in accordance with natural laws. Destruction is prepared for by a process of internal decay. This decay is gradual, secret, sure, ruinous. It affects all parts of the social fabric. It so eats away its substance that it needs but a touch to make it fall in pieces. This is precisely what happens in a state when moral laws are tampered with.J.O.
Hos 5:13-15
The false physician and the true.
The aid of the King of Assyria was, when times became troublous, freely sought by both Ephraim and Judah. Ephraim, however, was the chief offender. The relations between Israel and Assyria were at this time very close.
I. THE FATAL SICKNESS. (Hos 5:13) “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound,” etc. The sickness was a deadly one. Its diagnosis is not difficult. “The real disease,” one has said, “was apostasy from the Lord, or idolatry, with its train of moral corruption, injustice, crimes, and vices of every kind, which destroyed the vital energy and vital marrow of the two kingdoms, and generated civil war and anarchy in the kingdom of Israel.” It was the disease of sin, which in more or less aggravated forms afflicts us all. “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint” (Isa 1:5).
II. THE PHYSICIAN THAT COULD NOT HELP. (Hos 5:13, Hos 5:14) “Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb [the warlike king],” etc.
1. The sinner will apply to any helper rather than to God. Israel had God to come to, but he would not avail himself of this aid. He preferred to send to the Assyrian. The reason was that he did not believe much in God’s help. He knew, too, that, did he come to God, he would require to “acknowledge his offence” (Hos 5:15) and give up his evil ways. For this he was not prepared. In like manner, the sinner’s first resort is usually to earthly helpers. He neglects the great Physician. He looks to man for his comfort, counsel, strength, assistance, and happiness. He tries the “broken cisterns” (Jer 2:13). He seeks remedies, not in the gospel, but in science, philosophy, politics, literature, and art. It is in vain. The physician is not to be found there.
2. No helper other than God can heal the sickness. “Yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.” “King Jareb” could not heal Israel, and neither can these earthly physicians we speak of heal the trouble of the sinner. It passes their skill. The Assyrian could not heal Israel; for:
(1) The cause of the trouble lay, not in anything outward, but in the moral state. Social, moral, and political evils need a deeper remedy than any earthly helper knows how to apply. Unless a cure can be discovered for sin, other remedies will fail. The seat of the mischief is in the heart. It is that which needs healing.
(2) God’s hand was against Israel. “For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah,” etc. So long as God had this “controversy” with the people it was vain to look for healing. God being against them, no human being could make things go well. They might heal, but he would rend again. They might rescue, but he would take away. They might gather, but he would scatter. There is no help so long as God is angry with us.
(3) After all, the Assyrian was not honest in his help. He did not really mean to help Israel. He sought only his own ends. Once he got the nation in his power, he would turn and rend it. Instead of helping, Assyria became the chief instrument in God’s hand in inflicting the threatened punishment. Equally vain is the help we seek from earthly physicians. They cannot render it, even supposing they were willing, and they often are not willing. Our own age finds no real balm for its wounds in its theories and systems. It needs Christ. He is the only true Physician.
III. THE PHYSICIAN THAT COULD HELP. (Hos 5:15) This was Jehovah. But him, as yet, Israel would not seek.
1. Only on one condition could his help be bestowed. This was that they should “acknowledge their offence, and seek his face.” It was the indisposition to do this which kept Israel back.
2. Till Israel was brought to this point of acknowledgment God would hide himself in chastisements. “I will go and return to my place,” etc. It is the sinner that must change. God cannot.
3. There remained the hope that affliction might ultimately lead them to seek him. “In their affliction they will seek me early.”J.O.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Hos 5:1. Hear this, O priests We may collect from this passage, that there was on Mizpah, beyond Jordan, and upon Tabor, on this side of it, either golden calves or other idols, whose worship was favoured by the great men of Israel. The rabbies tell us, that Jeroboam placed garrisons at Tabor and Mizpah, to prevent the people from going up to Jerusalem. But if Hosea alluded to garrisons, he would rather have spoken of force than of snares. See Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
B. An Accusation especially against the Priests and the Royal House. The untheocratic Policy of the Kingdom of Israel in seeking for Help to Assyria and Egypt is denounced
Hosea 5-7
I. Mainly against the Priests
Hos 5:1-15
1 Hear this ye Priests,
And give ear, thou House of Israel,
And listen, thou House of the King,
Because the judgment is for you,
And you have been a snare for Mizpah,
And a net spread upon Tabor,
2 And the apostates make slaughter1 deep [are deeply sunk in slaughter],
And I am a chastening for them all.
3 I know Ephraim,
And Israel is not hidden from me;
For even now hast thou committed whoredom, Ephraim,
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds will not suffer2 (them)
To return to their God.
Because the spirit of whoredom is in their inward parts [their inmost heart]
And they do not know Jehovah.
5 And the pride of Israel testifies to its face,
And Israel and Ephraim will totter, through their guilt,
And Judah will totter with them.
6 With their sheep and cattle
They will go to seek Jehovah,
But will not find Him;
He hath withdrawn Himself from them.
7 They have been faithless to Jehovah,
For they begot strange children;
Now the new moon will consume them
Together with their portions.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
Cry out in Beth-Aven3
Behind thee, O Benjamin!
9 Ephraim will become a waste
In the day of chastisement,
Among the tribes of Israel
Have I made known what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become
Like the removers of land-marks:
I will pour out upon them
My wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
Shattered by judgment,4
For it thought good
To follow idol-images.4
12 And I (am) like the moth to ephrann.
And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 And Ephraim saw its disease,
And Judah its wound,
And Ephraim went to Assyria,
And sent to the warlike monarch;
But he will not be able to heal for you,
And will not remove your wound.
14 For I am like the lion to Ephraim,
And like the young lion to the house of Judah,
I, I will rend and go on (rending)
Will carry away and there will be no deliverer.
15 I will go again to my place,
Until they make expiation (by suffering),
And seek my face;
In their distress they will seek me.
Hos 6:1-2
1 Come let us return5 to Jehovah!
For He hath torn, and will heal us,
He hath smitten and will bind us up.
2 He will revive us after two days,
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live before Him.
3 Let us know, follow on to know, Jehovah:
Like the dawn his coming is sure,
And He shall come like the rain for us,
Like the latter rain (which) waters the earth.
4 What shall I do to thee, Ephraim?
What shall I do to thee, Judah?
For your love is like the morning cloud,
And like the dew, vanishing soon away.
5 Therefore I have smitten6 (them) through the Prophets,
And slain them with the words of my mouth,
And my judgment goes forth like light.6
6 For I delight in love and not sacrifice,
And in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 Yet they, like Adam, have broken the covenant,
They were faithless to me then.
8 Gilead is (like) a city of evil-doers,
Besmeared with blood.
9 And as the robber lurks,7
So (does) a band of priests.
Upon the highway they murder (those going) to Schechem,
Yea they commit wickedness.
10 In the house of Israel
I beheld an abomination, a horror:
Ephraim committed whoredom,
Israel (is) defiled.
11 For thee, also, Judah, a harvest is prepared,8
When I turn the captivity of my people.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The beginning in Hos 5:1 (corresponding to the opening of chap. 4.) shows that the discourse here commences anew. Though connected with chap. 4, this chapter contains an accusation and threatening more definitely directed against the priests along with the king and his counsellors and princes, yet without being confined to this, for the discourse again becomes general, applying to the whole people. Along with idolatry which here again becomes prominent as the sin of Israel (especially in chap. 5) and gross sins among the people (deceit, robbery, murder, chap. 6), the conduct of the court is afterwards specially reproved, but particularly the false policy of seeking help in Assyria and Egypt (which itself presupposes the beginning of the kingdoms decay). Chap. 6 is inseparably connected with chap. 5. But chap. 7 is also related to both of them, for a new section begins only with chap. 7. (See Introduction.) A single central and controlling idea, however, can hardly be indicated in these two chapters, or in the second part of the book generally. The discourse is too excited, moving suddenly from one thought to another, especially from accusation to threatening, and vice versa.
Hos 5:1. Hear this, ye priests. It is doubtful whether refers to the foregoing, but it is not improbable that it does. The solemn discourse just ended would now be applied to the hearts of those specially addressed here, and the continuation of the discourse would then be attached to it. House of the king = the royal family, or possibly those who surrounded him ordinarily. The king referred to cannot be with certainty determined. Keil conjectures Zachariah or Menahem, or both. According to 2Ki 15:19 f. the resort to Assyria would suit Menahem better than Zachariah. For the judgment is for you. This refers specially, according to the sequel, to the Priests and the Court. [The judgment is that announced in the preceding chapter; the special application is made here.M.] The rulers of the people are compared to a snare and net. The birds whom they have taken or allured to destruction, are the people. Mizpah cannot be the Mizpah strictly so called in the tribe of Benjamin, but must be= and that= an elevated place in Gilead, perhaps identical with in the tribe of Dan. Tabor, on this side the Jordan, would correspond to the elevated point on the other side. These two places are probably selected as prominent points to represent the whole country; for it is not known that they were places of sacrifice. Keil conjectures that they are chosen in this image because they were places suitable for bird-catching.
Hos 5:2. , to make deep. Literally: they have made slaughter deep=they have sunk deep in it. Slaughter might of itself be understood as murder, but the thought is carried further. is usually employed of the slaughter of beasts for sacrifice, and thus is most suitable here according to the foregoing, where the evil influence of the rulers upon the nation is spoken of, and this consisted in the idolatry which they saw them practice. But this sacrificing is intentionally called only slaying, and suggested by it. a is uncertain. The most probable explanation makes it= , apostates. This is then the subject of the sentence, which would be rendered: the apostates are deeply sunk in murder. Keil, with others, takes it quite differently: transgressions, more literally: deviations. He explains after , 1Ki 10:16 f.: to stretch, stretch along; therefore: deviations; they have made deep to stretch out=they have carried their transgressions very far. But what a tortuous mode of expression: to stretch out deviations! [The Anglo-American Commentators generally adopt the former view, rendering: revolvers, or: apostates.M.]
Hos 5:3. The second half of this verse tells what God discerns in Ephraim and Israel. : now, at this very moment, pointing out, as an actual fact, that which at present lies open to the eye of God. [Henderson: To express an assertion more strongly, the Hebrews put it first in the form of an affirmative, and afterwards in the form of a negative.M.]
Hos 5:4. Their deeds will not allow, etc. Their works stand in the way of their returning to God; for they are not isolated things, but are the expression of their inner nature, and that is held securely by the spirit of whoredom (Hos 4:12), as by a demoniacal power which has stifled the knowledge of God. They are therefore not freenot lords over themselves, but slaves. [The rendering adopted here is that given in the margin of the English Bible, and approved by the majority of the Expositors of Continental Europe, ancient and modern, and by Horsley among the English ones. But there he stands alone, all other Anglo American translators adopting the rendering: they will not frame their doings to return to the Lord. They have been led to this view by the mistaken notion that the other translation involved a grammatical impossibility. See Gram. Note.M.]
Hos 5:5. The pride of Israel according to some, denotes God, as One in whom Israel might have pride. The sense would then be that God, by his judgments testifies in the very face of Israel. But such an explanation is forced. The natural impression, on reading the words, is rather that Israel and its conduct is spoken of Therefore the words are to be taken as they stand; the pride of Israel testifies to its face, namely, when the punishment of such pride is being suffered. It will be then felt what it is to reject Jehovah in presumptuous self-reliance (Wnsche). Judah also totters with them. In Hos 4:15 Judah is warned not to be partaker in Israels guilt; but this must have been done because such participation was already begun, or foreseen as about to be assumed. On the other hand in Hos 1:7 Judahs destiny is distinguished definitely from that of Israel. [Henderson and others account for this seeming discrepancy by assuming that this chapter was written at a period considerably subsequent to that of the utterance of the last. But the evidence of the connection between them is too strong to admit of this supposition. The solution given above is therefore probably the correct one.M.]
Hos 5:6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds. The fruitlessness of Israels sacrifices without a mind answering to the offering, is here shown (comp. Hos 6:6; Isa 1:11 ff.; Jer 7:21 ff.; Psa 40:7; Psa 1:6 ff.).
Hos 5:7. , to act faithlessly, especially of the infidelity of a wife to her husband. The proof () of such unfaithfulness of Israel to Jehovah, the Husband, is then given. Instead of bearing children to God in covenant with Him, they had rather, by their illicit intercourse with idols, begotten strange, illegitimate children, children not belonging to the household, i.e., children whom the Lord cannot acknowledge as his own. The punishment is then announced: The new moon will devour them. The new moon is the festal season on which sacrifices were offered, and is here employed for the sacrifices themselves. The meaning is: your festal sacrifices are so far from bringing deliverance as rather to induce your ruin (Keil). The sentence must, at the same time, be understood in a temporal sense=the time will soon come when they will perish, as also appears clearly from Hos 5:8. Their portions are their possessions, part of which they brought as offerings.
Hos 5:8. The judgment is seen in the Spirit as being already inflicted. The invasion of the enemy is to be announced by the horn and the trumpet. Gibeah and Ramah were most suitable for giving signals on account of their lofty situation. Both were on the northern boundary of Benjamin. Thus Judah is already menaced (see Hos 5:5), and Israel actually occupied. , to raise a shout=to sound the alarm in danger. Beth-aven again=Bethel; is to be supplied. Behind thee, Benjamin. The danger which is signaled, the enemy, is coming. He is already close behind thee.
Hos 5:9. Israel shall assuredly be destroyed, and permanently also: =enduring, that is, lasting misfortune (comp. Deu 28:59). Others make it=true, what will surely he fulfilled. [The latter view is preferable, and is approved by most expositors.M.]
Hos 5:10. Like the removers of landmarks. Is this to be taken literally ? It is certain that we are not to think of hostile seizures of the territory of Israel, but the tertium comp. is the curse which, according to Deu 27:17, is laid upon the removal of a neighbors landmark=they have done something worthy of cursing. The curse attending the removal of the landmarks must therefore regarded here as something well known. The question then arises: what is it that they have lone incurring a curse. Keil and Hengstenberg think that a spiritual removal of boundaries is indicated, a subversion of the bounds of justice, lamely, by participating in the guilt of Ephraim which they did by breaking down the barriers between Jehovah and the idols. And it is true that the princes of Judah are to be regarded as in a special sense divided off as against Israel and its idolatry, by virtue of the true faith which still prevailed in Judah as contrasted with Israel. The sense would then be: The princes of Judah, by their favoring idolatry, by this transgressing of spiritual limits, have become like those who remove the land-marks of fields, and thus become subject to the curse. Gods anger will seize upon them like a full stream of water. Comp. Psa 69:25; Psa 79:6; Jer 10:25.
Hos 5:11-15 declare that even Assyria cannot help, and that the vanity of all help outside of God, drives Israel to Him.
Hos 5:11. and are united also in Deu 28:33 to denote the complete subjugation of Israel under enemies in the event of apostasy from God (Keil). occurs only here and in Isa 28:10. In the latter case, at all events, it= , command. So many here also: a human statute [in contrast to the ordinances of God] alluding to the worship of calves (Keil). [See Textual note.]
Hos 5:12. A moth and rottenness are symbols of destroying influences. The moth is alluded to in the same way in Isa 1:9; Isa 51:8; Psa 39:12; both united in Job 13:28. Such influences also destroy slowly but surely: Certa Dei judicia (Calvin).
Hos 5:13. and , injury and wound, hardly denote religious and moral depravation (Keil); for it would scarcely have been said that Ephraim perceived this, but the judgment of God mentioned in Hos 5:12, which according to the image there employed is not one which brings sudden ruin, but a more secret corruption, of which, indeed, moral depravation forms a part, but only as a judgment of God. That a divine judgment is intended, is clear from what is said of the vanity of help that is sought, especially in the sequel, and from the ground assigned for its insufficiency in Hos 5:14. Assyria is here named for the first time. In the subsequent chapters the Prophet frequently recurs to the false policy of seeking help from Assyria. Only Ephraim is named because Israel is the main subject. Judah is referred to only incidentally. , a contender, an epithet devised by the Prophet to denote the Assyrian king.
Hos 5:14. They can as little defend themselves from Gods judgments as they can from the attack of lions. (Comp. Hos 13:7; Isa 5:29; Deu 32:39).
Hos 5:15. The figure of the lion is continued. As the lion, without fear of being attacked, withdraws into his lair, so the Lord withdraws into heaven; none can or dare call Him to account. Until they make expiation = suffer. The suffering shall drive them to God. =seek earnestly. Comp. Hos 2:9 and Deu 4:29-30, where comp. also the expression .
Hos 6:1. Come let us return to Jehovah. The words are plainly connected with the last words of chap. 5. where a seeking of God on the part of the people is mentioned as the aim and consequence of the divine judgment. The opinion is, therefore, the most natural (so already the LXX) that they are just the expression of that seeking, that in them Israel announces its resolve, and immediately thereafter the hope of favor on the ground of the return. The view of Keil is less suitable, that we have here an exhortation addressed by the Prophet in the name of God to the people whom God has smitten. The words are only and naturally put in the mouths of those who, punished for their sins, would return to God. [The Anglo American Commentators, generally, adopt the view here advocated. Henderson gives the additional plea that the bearing of Hos 6:5 favors the hypothesis.M.] For He hath torn, etc. (comp. Hos 5:14). Strong faith. The Lord who had spoken with such threatenings, and such implacable severity, would yet give salvation (and not Assyria, 6:13). This would also be true if the words , are taken as expressing a wish, which is readily suggested by a frequent usage of with the future: and may He heal us, etc. (so also in the following sentences).. The resolve to return would then be strengthened by the calamity which God sends. If be taken not as expressing a wish but simply a hope the determination to return would rather be strengthened by this hope, as the healing, etc., would be the fruit of the return. [On the grammatical and logical connection of the different clauses of the first three verses, see Gram. note.M.] An allusion to Deu 32:39 can hardly be mistaken, especially if we look to Hos 6:2.
Hos 6:2. He will revive us again, etc. The definite limits: two days, and: on the third day, hold out the prospect of the speedy and sure revival of Israel. Two and three days are very short periods of time; and the linking of two numbers following the one upon the other, expresses the certainty of what is to take place within the period named, just as in the so-called number-sayings in Amo 1:3; Job 5:19; Pro 6:16; Pro 30:15; Pro 30:18, in which the last and greatest number expresses the highest or utmost extent of the matter dealt with (Keil). Both the Rabbinical interpretations of these numbers (e.g., that they relate to the three captivities, the Egyptian, the Babylonish, and the Roman) and the Christian, according to which Christs resurrection on the third day is indicated, are naturally inadmissible. The latter is excluded even by the words themselves. Israel is the subject of discourse: it is torn, smitten, slain; nothing is said of the exile itself, but in general there is set forth the termination of its existence as a people through the divine judgment (which to be sure was brought to pass by means of the exile). Israel expects, in the event of conversion, to be delivered from this situation and to be restored, and that speedily. It is naturally not the awakening of the physically dead that is announced; but it is a significant fact, that such an awakening is employed to illustrate the restoration of Israel, for it may lead us to infer that such a belief lay not far from the Prophets mind. Comp. for our verse, Isa 36:19 ff. (and for the whole section, Isa 6:1621), and especially the well-known vision in Eze 37:1-14. (See further No. 4 in the Doctrinal section.) [Comp. the remarks of Delitzsch on Job 19:25 ff. in his Commentary on that book, which contain the true principle of interpretation in such cases, and substantially agree with the method approved by Schmoller here. Henderson and Cowles agree in excluding any but an historic allusion, while Horsley and Pusey maintain the allegorical interpretation, the former seeing a no very obscure, though but an oblique, allusion to our Lords resurrection on the third day, the latter repudiating any other application, and carrying out the analogy to the extreme possibilities of fanciful conjecture. The explanation of the two and three days given above is probably the true one. With it Newcome and Henderson agree. Cowles suggests an allusion to the duration of the pestilence in Israel after Davids census of the people, and thinks that besides there may be a tacit allusion to the fact that three days is about the extent of human endurance under extreme privations and hardships.M.] That we may live before Him: under his protecting shelter and favor, comp. Gen 17:18 (Keil).
Hos 6:3. Let us know, pursue the knowledge of Jehovah. Keil rightly makes the verse parallel with Hos 6:1, as a further appeal. The expression especially indicates an appeal, or, according to our view, a self-exhortation. The zeal and earnestness of the return is thus presented. Know must be taken in the sense of Hos 4:1; Hos 4:6. Jehovah had become an unknown, a strange God to the (idolatrous) people. Such knowledge has thus a practical aim, to acknowledge, to serve Him. The following words declare what is hoped for as the fruit of that knowledge: His coming forth is sure like the dawn, etc. Jehovah will appear bringing salvation. This is set forth under the figures of the daybreak and a fertilizing rain. The appearing of Jehovah is denoted as a rising by the image of the dawn (, usually employed of the sun). The transition from night to day is set forth. Comp. Isa 58:8. And He will come as the rain for us, etc., i.e., reviving and refreshing. In Deu 11:14 (comp. Deu 28:12 and Lev 26:4-5), the rain, or the early and latter rain, is mentioned among the blessings which the Lord will bestow upon his people if they shall serve Him with the whole heart. This promise the Lord will so fulfill in the case of his newly-revived people, that He himself will refresh them like a fertilizing rain (Keil).
Hos 6:4. What shall I do to thee, Ephraim? It is common to break off the discourse here, wrongly, with Hos 6:3. It is supposed that there is here a first section containing a promise, to which the promise in chaps. 11. and 14. correspond, and that a new section begins in Hos 6:4 with a new objurgatory discourse (Keil). But, in the first place, Hos 6:1-3 do not really contain a promise of the Prophet, or of God through the Prophet, but only a hope of the people themselves. And, in the second place, Hos 6:4 is too closely connected with the preceding (not as a promise of God attached to the foregoing), according to Luthers translation: how will I do thee good, etc. ? For does not mean: to do good, and is not=the mercy which I will show you, and, especially, the comparison of Gods favor to the morning cloud and the vanishing dew would be unsuitable. The words rather contain a bitter complaint of Israels inconstancy, and that suggested just by the preceding words. A good and joyful feeling was there expressed. If Israel only had now such a feeling as was expressed in the words which the Prophet puts in their mouth, all would be well! But Israel is as inconstant as God is constant. Its goodness is as the morning cloud and the swiftly vanishing dew. Both the dew and the morning cloud are figures of evanescence. The dew has an allusion to the rain, with which Jehovah is compared by way of contrast; and the morning cloud disappearing so soon, points back to the dawn which surely brings the day. , love, is naturally, on account of Gods complaint against the inconstancy of the people, to be understood of love towards God. Yet it may also be taken generally, and made to include mans love to his neighbor as well. What shall I do to thee?=how shall I further punish thee? Then follows what God would yet do.
Hos 6:5. Thereforebecause the character of Israel was such as was described in Hos 6:4. The words of my mouth is parallel to the Prophets, because the latter proclaimed Gods purposes; and the was performed by the prophets just so far as they uttered the words of God. , to hew out or off. The figure is that of hard stone or wood to which, by hewing, the right shape is given, and obdurate Israel is conceived of as having been subjected to such treatment for its good through the objurgations of the prophets. Similarly Luther after Jerome: to plane off.The expression of the second member is stronger still: I slew them. A slaying influence is ascribed to Gods word. He gives to the prophets to announce death and ruin. In the words that follow we are probably to change the reading, and translate=and my judgment (goes forth) as light. [See Textual note.M.] The image may have been chosen with reference to Hos 6:4 : Since your love is like the morning cloud and the dew, vanishing quickly, when the sun rises, I will make such a sun rise as you do not wish. The judgment is here compared to a sunrise, which is elsewhere rather an image of a gracious visitation (comp. Hos 6:3), perhaps in the sense that judgment reveals sins, the works of darkness, in their true light (comp. Eph 5:13).
Hos 6:6 and the following ones confirm more definitely what is said in Hos 6:5. What God wishes is love and the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God (=piety here) goes back to the essential idea of as embracing in its general sense, love to God and man, though the latter here preponderates. In this sense Jesus cites it in Mat 9:13; Mat 12:7. On the meaning, comp. No. 5 in the Doctrinal and Ethical section.
Hos 6:7. Yet the conduct of the people is just the opposite of what God desires. But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. The reference is to Ephraim and Judah, not to the priests. And, therefore, does not express a contrast to these=ordinary men. It would rather indicate a contrast to Ephraim and Judah as the people of God. But this thought is quite remote. Viewing the passage without prejudice, the usual explanation is seen to be the most natural: like Adam Allusion is thus made to Genesis 3. Adams sin was the violation of a covenant: for with the command laid upon Adam, God entered into a relation with him, which, in accordance with the analogies of later agreements made with mankind, might be called a covenant. Such covenant-breaking is a , a breach of fidelity. Then they were unfaithful to Me, as it were, pointing with the finger to the well known places of idolatrous worship, e.g., Bethel. Israels position, therefore, is one of apostasy from God. Israel contradicts its destiny, which was, to be Gods people. In fact, the verse expresses the want of that one thing which God desires, the want of the knowledge of God. Being a condition of intimacy with God, it is lost in apostasy from Him. Therefore, also, there is no Hos 6:8 ff. [Newcome, Pusey, and Cowles prefer the interpretation that understands Adam to be meant. Henderson rejects it, and prefers the rendering: they (are) like men (who) break a covenant. To this it might be objected, first, that this, which is in any case, a paraphrase, is not the natural translation of the words. If it were the authors meaning, every reader, contemporary with him or otherwise, would have mistaken it, on the first view, at least. In the second place, such a periphrastic expression would be a very feeble, as well as unusual, way of conveying the notion that they had broken Gods covenant, in marked contrast to the directness of the charge in the second member of the verse. He objects to the other view that nowhere is there mention made of Gods entering into a covenant with Adam. But this objection is not valid if it appears that the transaction in which God and Adam were the parties was really of the nature of a covenant. And that term is a concise and correct mode of asserting a plain Scriptural fact, namely, that God made to Adam a promise suspended upon a condition, and attached to disobedience a certain penalty. This is what in Scriptural language is meant by a covenant. (Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 2. p. 117.) His other objection is trivial, that with the exception of three doubtful passages, of which the present is one, Adam is not used in the Old Testament after the first chapter of Genesis (he probably meant the fifth) as a proper name, nor is any reference made to our first parents. The nearest parallel to our passage is Job 31:33 : if I have concealed my transgression like Adam; of the correctness of which rendering there can be no reasonable doubt. Comp. Delitzsch on that passage in his Commentary on Job.M.].
Hos 6:8. Gilead might be taken here as the name of a city. But it never occurs as such, only as the name of a district on the east of the Jordan. It must therefore be assumed that the name of the district is applied here to the chief city, Mizpah. Or we might remain by the notion of the district, and the expression would then be a comparison=All Gilead is, as it were, a city of evil-doers, as full of them as a city is of men. . is a foot-mark, therefore: tracked with blood, full of bloody tracks. Here murderous actions are indicated without being definitely named.
Hos 6:9. But the most shameful transactions occur in the west of the Jordan. Even priests act like robbers. is a predatory band, a band of freebooters or robbers, therefore =a companion of such bands, a robber. Like the lurking of robbers = as robbers lurk, so lurk a company of priests, they murder on the way to Shechem. Travellers are surprised by them on the way to Shechem. Shechem was a City of Refuge. Perhaps those are meant who sought refuge there. The priests are by many thought to be residents of Shechem. But Shechem was a Levitical, not a sacerdotal, city. The expression would then refer not to those dwelling within the city, but to those without, who fall upon persons going to Shechem. Bethel was rather the seat of the priests. Keil therefore supposes: The way to Shechem is mentioned as a place of murders and bloody deeds, because the road to Bethel, the principal seat of worship belonging to the ten tribes, from Samaria the capital, and in fact from the northern part of the kingdom generally, lay through this city. Pilgrims to the feasts for the most part took this road; and the priests, who were taken from the dregs of the people, appear to have lain in wait for them, to rob, or, in case of resistance, to murder. More strictly speaking, it must have been done on the return from Bethel to Shechem. The allusion is evidently to a definite event unknown to us. The same remark applies to the following words. is climactic. =shame, perhaps, unchastity. [This word does not mean shame or dishonor. It is primarily a device or plan either evil or good (comp. Job 17:11), though usually the former. The next meaning is wickedness; then specially a crime resulting from unchastity. For the connection between the two meanings see Lev 18:11.M.]
Hos 6:10. The consequences of the preceding. Probably both corporeal and spiritual whoredom are included.
Hos 6:11. A threatening is appended against Judah also. Judah also is guilty. The harvest is as elsewhere an image of judgment, a cutting down (comp. also Isa 28:24 ff.) When I shall turn the captivity of my people. This appears, on the contrary, to refer to a deliverance, and therefore to be a promise. But it must be remembered that the judgment has for its aim the deliverance of Gods people () as a whole. But such deliverance is effected only through the judgment that falls upon the several parts first upon Israel and then upon Judah. The meaning therefore is, when Israel, the Ten Tribes, shall have received its punishment and been restored, Judah also will be punished. [This paraphrase of the passage does not agree with historical fact, and must therefore be rejected. The true view seems to be that of Keil: never means: to bring back the captives, but in every passage where it occurs simply: to turn the captivity and that in the figurative sense of restitutio in integrum. My people, i.e., the people of Jehovah is not Israel of the Ten Tribes but the covenant nation as a whole. Consequently the captivity of my people is the misery into which Israel (of the twelve tribes) had been brought through its apostasy from God, not the Assyrian or Babylonian Exile, but the misery brought about by the sins of the people. God could avert this only by judgments, through which the ungodly were destroyed and the penitent converted. Consequently the following is the thought which we obtain from the verse: When God shall come to punish that He may root out ungodliness, and restore his people to their true destiny, Judah will also be visited with the judgment.] The whole is, not to be regarded as a promise, or the harvest as a harvest of joy. Nor is it necessary to attract the second hemistich of Hos 6:11 to the first verse of chap. 7. (e.g., Meier).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Prophetic rebuke does not merely not spare rulers and kings: it is specially directed against them. This follows from the conviction of the high vocation the monarchy had to fulfill. It is the bearer of the magisterial office, and as such must administer and guard the divine law, and must therefore care both for the purity of Gods worship and the administration of justice. And if it neglects or directly violates its obligation, despises the divine law, and even introduces idolatry, perverts justice, exercises injustice or leaves it unpunished, it becomes recreant to God, from whom it receives its authority, and incurs his punishment. This, the Prophet, as Gods messenger, announces, and his voice is therefore at first a voice of warning in order to bring it back to the true path. But the Prophet arraigns not merely neglect or violation of the obligations entailed by the office a such, but also the personal conduct of the bearers of the office, with a due appreciation of the influence which they exercise by word and still more by deed, in virtue of their high position.
2. In all inroads of sin and corruption we are to look not merely at the outward work, but at the power of darkness, the spirit, that lies behind as their most dexterous and astute controlling influence, which will maintain most craftily its right and cause; comp. Hos 6:4 (Rieger).
3. Rieger: So long as man under divine chastisement, supposes that he can find help and mitigate his misfortunes by trust in the creatures, he wanders off as though in a trackless wilderness, from the living fountain, and might preclude himself from the most essential self-humbling, the knowledge of his guilt. But when God presses upon him with his hand and he has no deliverer then is quickened in his heart a little seed implanted there before by Gods good hand; and thus the love of God is like a man who has sown seed in his land; he goes away to his place, and depends on that which the seed will produce it time and after the rough winter. Most beautiful is the believing assurance with which the Prophet makes the chastened express their hope of favor if they should return to God. (This same hope is expressed in Deu 32:29.) Thus restoration after past destruction is hoped for, and the blessedness of this restoration is further and happily described by comparing the returning favor of God to the rising dawn and the descending rain of harvest, as beneficent and refreshing as the one, as fertilizing and fraught with as rich blessings as the other, it spreads its influence. Such a visitation of mercy was most fully vouchsafed through the Messiah; He was the Day-star from on high; in Him came to us the Son of God in the flesh to diffuse upon us the Holy Spirit like fertilizing rain. He brings, therefore, the true healing for the bruised, the true binding up of the wounds for the smitten, the true reviving for the slainall under the condition (presupposed by the Prophet) of a penitent returning to God. That the Prophet himself, in putting these words into the mouths of the penitent, thought of the Messiah, can not be maintained. We must apply here also canon laid down at chaps 12. that the fulfillment took place under the Messiah, but in another and higher sense than the Prophet fancied, that the words inspired by the Spirit of God had a further range than the Prophet knew. The revival and the upraising imply primarily a restoration of Israel, and we have in Eze 37:1-14 the completed picture of which our short sentence affords the outlines. But if the true restoration of Gods people has been and is now being accomplished only through Christ, we can go a step further, and show that the revival, proceeding from Him, which is essentially a partaking in a new spiritual life, finds its completion only in the awakening even from corporeal death to the enjoyment of eternal life, of those who have been spiritually quickened by Him. If we, therefore, from the stand-point of the New Testament, find in the words of our Prophet here an allusion to this, we are not really so far wrong as might seem. Nay, as the Prophet certainly speaks of a reviving in a spiritual sense, so he must take that image from an actual revival of the dead, as he took the preceding ones in Hos 6:1 from the binding and healing of a wound, and this idea cannot be so remote from his language, even if we can say no more (Isaiah in Isa 26:19 evidently goes further). As regards the specification of time: on the third day, which so naturally suggests Christs resurrection,the coincidence is certainly not accidental so far as the resurrection on the third day is to be regarded as a rising in a very brief space of time. He was, indeed, to die, but not to remain in the state of the dead any longer than was necessary, so to speak, in order to make his death an indubitable fact; rather, as the First Fruits, He should be soonest brought out of death by the mighty working of the Father, and it would thus be shown how completely Gods wrath, borne by Him, was quenched, and Gods favor restored. On the third day the sun of mercy thus rose even here. And upon this revival of the Messiah on the third day, is conditioned the revival of sinners, proceeding from Him, in time and eternity. We must, therefore, regard this passage of prophecy as at least significant from a New Testament stand-point, nor do we err if we say, that there is here contained more than the Prophet could conceive; it is a divine word resembling a seed of corn which does not simply represent what it actually is (even the most precious stone does no more than this), but conceals in itself something else far higher, the germ which it enfolds.
4. Hos 6:5. There is expressed here a clear consciousness of the aim and lofty position of prophecy. It is above all not something inciDeutal, but is embraced organically in the divine economy. Its special mission is fulfilled when the people of God forget their calling, and disregarding the voice of their own conscience, no longer seize the true path, and, having already inwardly apostatized, attain only to weak resolves, which are never fulfilled (Hos 6:4). Then God appears before his people, and sends them the prophets, who are, so to speak, a conscience standing outside of them. Through them He speaks the words of his mouth and rebukes his people. He announces through them his judgment; their words of rebuke themselves are a punishment to the people, at all events, a punishment by words before the punishment by deeds is sent, but yet essentially identical with it, inasmuch as it was intended to produce deep sorrow, to touch the inner man, and to bring painfully to the consciousness criminal apostasy from God, and has thus the same aim as actual punishment has. Thus the sending of the prophets appears in one passage as a punishment; therefore also the expression which speaks of Gods hewing and slaying through them is employed, and there is conjoined with it in one line the rising of judgment like the sun, which may be understood of the efficiency of the prophets themselves. It is declared in such passages as Hos 12:11 that prophecy had in itself a more general significance, as it effected Gods revelation to the people, and brought Him into close relations with them, and was, in so far, an element of his dispensation of mercy. And, apart from this, as Hosea directly shows, it had not only a legal but also an evangelical aspect by its vocation as proclaiming Gods faithfulness, in virtue of which He had not rejected his people but had destined for them a great deliverance. Here, however, it is occupied with the race for which it was specially designed, and for them it preached punishment by holding up before them the law they had so contemptuously violated; it became a chastening rod through the Word, and it was to hold out to the people the prospect of the future salvation only through the medium of punishment, and must as its main duty cut to pieces and slay. The preaching of the New Covenant has, on the other hand, as its main duty, an evangelical mission, which must never be ignored. But still it cannot dispense with the preaching of the Law. It must, even there, recur to that as its next duty; for the Law is the true .
The worthlessness of sacrifice as a mere opus operatum is most distinctly emphasized by prophecy in opposition to the false esteem in which it was held, which was a token of religious and moral ruin, going hand in hand with an empty service forms and outward works. Sacrifice, in general was, as it seems, regarded as a good because a religious work, even when it was not performed in the strict legal manner, but was associated with calf and idol-worship, and therefore with a transgression of the Law (as in our context it is not legal sacrifice that is spoken of the address being to the kingdom of the ten tribes). In this they wishes to honor Jehovah, or pretended to do so. Comp. Hos 6:6. In that passage the worthlessness of the outward sacrifice, which was only in form a seeking of Jehovah, and could not be a seeking from the heart (Hos 6:15), is strongly expressed. Comp. Mic 6:8; Isa 1:11-17; Psa 40:7; Psa 40:9; Ps. 1:8 ff.; Psa 51:18 ff.; 1Sa 15:22.
To infer, however, from this polemic of prophecy against the opus operatum of sacrifice (sacrifice to an idol is to the Prophet only slaughter), that it values sacrifice in itself but little, and stands as to the Law, etc., upon a freer stand-point, is assuredly wrong. If the prophets were the stern guardians of the Law, and especially of the worship of Jehovah, and directed their rebukes against every depreciation of the law and every apostasy from Johavath, and if they also placed the ceremonial clement in worship in contrast to the ethical and internal, they did so because the latter was absent, and because it alone gave to sacrifice its real worth. And in our passage it is not to be overlooked that Hosea turns first to the sacrifices of the ten tribes, to the places of unlawful sacrifice, and denounces them as worthless, not merely on account of the absence of the inner qualities, but because he saw the people engaged in a course of conduct illegal and therefore displeasing to God, rejects their sacrifices and therefore so much the more opposes to these the inner qualities, and amongst these, the knowledge of God, which would lead back to God and thereby also to the legal worship of Jehovah with its sacrifices. On the relation of the sacrificial service to the future time of salvation, see on chap. 14
5. Hos 6:7. They have, like Adam, broken the covenant. The passage is important as being the only, but a clear, reference to the Fall in the Old Testament. This is presented as a transgression of the Covenant, and God is therefore conceived of as standing to the first man in a covenantrelation. Adams sin appears, therefore, to the Prophet, not as something trifling, but as a great transgression, just as Paul speaks of it in the Epistle to the Romans, though there is nothing said of the consequences of this sin upon mankind. And while this transgression is thought of as a (the first) violation of the covenant, there is also ascribed to it a significance as influencing the destiny of the world.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Hos 6:1. Wrt. Summ.: Preachers should rebuke the sins of rulers as well as those of subjects, so that they bear not the guilt of the souls that are lost, whose blood God will require at their hands.
Hos 6:2. Great zeal, even though it be in the cause of religion, is not the chief thing. It is of itself mere bigotry and has no merit, but is rather to be rejected if it is against the truth.
[Matthew Henry: Those that have apostatized from the truths of God are often the most subtle and barbarous persecutors of those that still adhere to them.M.]
Hos 6:4. The longer thou continuest in sin the more difficult is the return. He who commits sin is the servant of sin. At first he will not return, at last he cannot. The heart is hardened. The spirit of whoredom: not single sins that are committed, but an evil spirit rising up and taking possession of the soul. The more men sin against God, the more they lose the knowledge of Him, and the more difficult it is for them to return; and so the chastisement of God must be more severe to bring them back to Him.
Hos 6:5. God spares not even his own, when they sin.
Starke: He who mingles with the ungodly will be punished with them.
[Pusey: In the presence of God there is needed no other witness against the sinner than his own conscience.M.]
Hos 6:6. Starke: God will not be slighted with the outward appearance of godliness. In distress men should indeed seek God, though not in hypocrisy, but in sincerity. Our most acceptable sacrifice to God, is the surrender of ourselves, body and soul, to Him.
Hos 6:7. Wrt. Summ.: Godless parents usually bring up godless children, whom God regards not as his, but as strange children, children of whoredom. They shall suffer a like punishment with their parents. But God will require their blood at the hands of their parents, from whom a heavy reckoning will be demanded. Therefore bring up your children in the chastening and admonition of the Lord, and they will not be strange children, but Gods, and heirs of eternal life.
Hos 6:9. Starke: In time of war men should not be troubled so much about the cruelty and tyranny of their enemies, as they should lament and bewail their sins.
Hos 6:10. Pfaff Bibelwerk: God has set firm bounds even to the great ones of this earth, and prescribed to them laws which they must observe. But when they remove these limits God pours out his wrath upon them like water.
Hengstenberg: If those are cursed who remove a neighbors landmarks, how much more they who remove those of God!
[Scott: When princes break down the fence of the divine law by their edicts, decisions, or examples, they open the flood-gates of Gods wrath: and when subjects willingly obey ungodly and persecuting statutes, they may expect to be given up to grievous exactions and oppressions; for God will disregard the interests, liberty, and security of those who disregard his honor and renounce his service.M.]
Hosea 6:12. Luther: There is nothing more delicate than a moth. One can scarcely touch it without killing it, and yet it eats through cloth, and so destroys our clothing. And the wood-worm eats little by little through the hardest wood. So the wrath of God is despised by the ungodly, as though it were without power; yet whatever contends with it must come to destruction, and cannot be restored to its former condition by any might or influence. We are thus warned not to live on in such security, but to fear the Lord and walk in all his ways. All strength and force without this, will not defend us from his wrath.
[Pusey: So God visits the soul with different distresses, bodily or spiritual. He impairs, little by little, health of body or fineness of understanding; or He withdraws grace or spiritual strength, or allows lukewarmness or distaste for the things of God to creep over the soul. These are the gnawings of the moth, overlooked by the sinner, if he persevere in carelessness as to his conscience, yet bringing in the end entire decay of health, of understanding, of heart, of mind, unless God interfere by the mightier mercy of some heavy chastisement, to awaken him.M.]
Hosea 6:13. Seek not thy consolation in the world, when the consequences of sin make themselves felt. It helps thee indeed, but only to drag thee completely into its power, and to certain ruin. If men would have the wounds of sin healed, they must hasten to the true Physician, and not to false ones, whose help is of no avail.
[Matthew Henry: Those who neglect God and seek to creatures for help shall certainly be disappointed; that depend upon them for support, will find them not foundations but broken reeds; that depend upon them for supply will find them not fountains but broken cisterns; that depend upon them for comfort and a cure will find them miserable comforters and physicians of no value.M.]
Hosea 6:14. Starke: Those who have an angry God, concern themselves to no purpose about resisting their enemies or other misfortunes.
Hosea 6:15. [Matthew Henry: When men begin to complain more of their sins than of their afflictions, there begin to be some hopes of them. And this is that which God requires of us when we are under his correcting hand, that we own ourselves to be in fault, and to be justly corrected.M.]
Chap. 6. Hos 6:1. The language of the repenting sinner. How often does it come so late as this! But O that it would always come! How much must intervene before it comes (much use of the Lords chastening rod)! but how great also is the gain! Alas that it is so hard for men to decide so! but what a blessed decision it is!M.]
Hos 6:2. God revives us not only that we may live before Him, i.e., to his glory and service, but also live in the enjoyment of his presence and blessing.
Hos 6:3. Delay is more disastrous in nothing than in turning to God. [Pusey: We know in order to follow: we follow in order to know. Light prepares the way for love. Love opens the mind for new love. The gifts of God are interwoven. They multiply and reproduce each other, until we come to the perfect state of eternity.M.]
Hos 6:4. Transient heats in religion do not accomplish the work which steadfastness must crown.
[Matthew Henry: God never destroys sinners till He sees there is no other way with them.M.]
Hos 6:5. Cramer: The Law is the ministry which, through the letter, kills. He, therefore, who is not slain and does not die to sin, cannot be made alive through the voice of the Gospel.
[Pusey: Gods past loving kindness, his pains (so to speak), his solicitations, the drawings of his grace, the tender mercies of his austere chastisements, will, in the day of judgment, stand out as clear as the light, and leave the sinner confounded, without excuse. In this life also Gods judgments are as a light which goeth forth, enlightening not the sinner who perishes, but others, in the darkness of ignorance, on whom they burst with a sudden blaze of light.]
Hos 6:6. Wrt. Summ.: The means by which we become partakers of the mercy of God, are not our works and desert, but the true knowledge of God and faith in Christ which works by love, in which God has more delight and satisfaction than in all outward works. And this is the sum of the whole Christian religion, that we believe in the name of the Son of God and have love toward one another.
Hos 6:7. Pfaff. Bibelwerk. Beware of transgressing, by presumptuous sin, the covenant which thou hast made with thy God. He is a great God and not a man, with whom thou hast entered into obligations.
[Pusey: There, He does not say, where. But Israel and every sinner in Israel know full well, where. God points out to the conscience of sinners the place and the time, the very spot, where they offended Him. The sinners conscience and memory fills up the word there. It sees the whole landscape of its sins around.M.]
Hos 6:10. Pfaff. Bibelwerk: Woe to the land, the city, or the church, where God sees nothing but abominations and sins!
Hos 6:11. Each one reaps what he has sown. If thou dost become partaker in other mens sins, thou wilt meet with their punishment. If the captivity of Gods people is certain, so is also deliverance But, on the other hand also, the promise presupposes the threatening: no deliverance without judgment upon sin; salvation comes, but only after a long and dark night.
Footnotes:
[1]Hos 5:2. is probably the Inf. Piel from . [It is the inf. absol. with paragogic. The regular form would be , but the Kamets-Hhatuph is changed to Patach. See Green, Gr., 119, 3. Its construction with the finite verb follows a peculiar idiom, common in Hebrew. The literal translation is: they have made deep to slaughter. Comp. Isa 31:6. Ewald, comparing with Hos 9:9, holds that our word is a false reading for , but there is no reason why the Prophet should not have used both expressions.M.]
[2][Hos 5:4.E. V. and most Anglo-American expositors adopt another construction in the first hemistich, rendering: they will not frame their doings. Horsley, with the best Continental critics, prefers the rendering which is given in the margin of E. V. and adopted by Schmoller. Pusey is undecided, and indeed it is difficult to determine which is the true view; for no importance is to be attached to the objection of Henderson, that would require an object expressed if the construction last referred to were the correct one.M.]
[3]Hos 5:8.Before supply .
[4]Hos 5:11. is in the construct, state before . It is not=broken, harassed in law, which is unsuitable here, but we have a genitivus efficient is, and =judgment, as in Hos 5:1 : crushed by judgment. On the combination , see Ewald, 285, 6. The words are cordinate. [See Green, 269. This construction is frequent in Hosea; comp. Hos 1:6; Hos 6:4M.] Frst takes in our passage= , a pillar, especially a fingerpost. He, however, has the conjecture that= , filth, dirt, and this= , , idols, and would then take from , to be foolish (of which the Niphal occurs)=he was foolish, and followed after filth (filthy idol-worship). A further conjecture is that it may be an Ephraimitish mode of writing (Job 15:31) =nothing, vanity. LXX.: .
[5][Chap. 6 Hos 5:1-3.The true construction of the various sentences in these verses is probably as follows: The first line of Hos 5:1 contains an exhortation, the remainder of that and the following verse consisting of arguments in support of it; and the first line of Hos 5:3 contains a parallel exhortation, followed in the remainder of the verse, by parallel arguments. A glance at the verses in their connection will show the appropriateness of this general view. That the opposite is true of the construction adopted in E. V. and by the English expositors generally, according to which the opening of Hos 5:3 is regarded as a continuation of the reasons for returning, is evident both from the unfitness of that line as an argument, and from the consideration that all the pleas adduced in all three verses are drawn from expectations of favor from God Himself. The form of the Heb. pret. (with paragogic) here employed, also confirms this view. But there is no need of holding, according to the view preferred by Schmoller, that any of the intermediate verbs introduce an exhortation. This both weakens the force of the array of pleas successively adduced and mars the regular and beautiful structure of the section. (Hos 5:1), and , (Hos 5:3), therefore, being paragogic futures (Green, 97, 1, 264), are cohortatives, and the only cohortatives in the section.M]
[6]Hos 5:5.The object of is to be supplied by anticipation from . Instead of , the punctation and division of the words is probably to be changed according to the ancient versions, and to be read. The Masoretic reading is encumbered with too many difficulties.
[7]Hos 5:9. is for = [constr. inf. Piel, equivalent to a participial noun. It is an imitation of the Chaldee. Henderson conjectures that the form is for , Piel. Part.. The translation of E. V.: by consent, has arisen from the Targum rendering, : one shoulder. This view is now almost altogether abandonedM.]
[8]Hos 5:11. is used impersonally, being equivalent to a passive sense [one sets, prepares a harvest=a harvest is prepared.M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Chapter is a very proper continuance to the subject in the former. The Lord had said that Ephraim should be let alone, having joined himself to idols; and here is related the sad consequences. The Chapter closes, however, with the prospect of mercy.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
It should seem, that in the days of the Prophet, such was the general defect in the pure worship of the God of Israel, that even the priests and the great men openly opposed the truth. Mizpah and Tabor were places that lay in the path between Samaria and Jerusalem, so that if any poor Israelite ventured to go up to worship the Lord, those priests watched out to oppose him. Reader! think it not strange, such conduct, for the true spiritual followers of the Lord in every age are dealt with in like manner, and by the like people. The bitterest enemies of Christ’s people are among the professors of Christ. The offence of the cross hath not ceased!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Confession of Sin
Hos 5:15
It is the picture of a father dealing with a child who has not yet owned his fault. The father has been trying to persuade the child, but the child will not confess. Then the father says, ‘I will try another way, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face”; my absence will be sure to bring with it sorrow and trouble: and “in their affliction they will seek me early”‘. And then it is beautiful to link on the next verse. It is almost a pity that it has been thrown into another chapter. The absence has brought the affliction, and the affliction has brought confession: ‘Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up’. We often feel as if God was gone away from us. May it not be that there is just that difference, that distinct boundary-line between absence and presence ’till they shall acknowledge their offence’. And may not that affliction which has visited you have come upon this very errand, to say, ‘Confess, confess that secret sin, which is keeping God away from you’? Confess your sins. Bring out those captive kings out of the cavern of your heart. You will find it such a relief; there will come such a sense of liberty; God will be so pleased with you; and you will begin, from that moment, to feel so much happier. There may be very little which stands between you and peace but the silence you are keeping, and the deceit you are practising about some sin. Make the effort. Determine, ‘Whatever I am besides, I will be honest, be open, and confess’. But now, let us consider how this confession is to be made.
I. Confess in Humiliation Confession is to God, and it should be done with the deepest and most careful humiliation. Whatever can help to humiliation, do it. God requires that the relation with Himself which has been interrupted and reversed by your sin should be re-adjusted. You must go very low down into the dust, and God must go up very high. The one will not do without the other. As self goes down, Christ must go up; and as Christ goes up, self must go down. Put yourself, really and simply, at the very lowest down into the dust that is the essence of confession.
II. Particularize Your Sins To the same end let your confession to God particularize. Be very minute as minute, let your confession be, as you can possibly make it. Mention all the little things. Make them stand out in bold relief. It is the sum of confession. Generally, persons are ready enough to confess many, nay, most of their sins but there is one which they do not like to speak of, even when they are speaking to God. Now, your confession will be nothing at all if you only reach to that. There are a great many good suggestions and rules about confession in the book of Leviticus, ‘And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing’ that thing. That thing do you lay out before God in all its parts the guilty omissions which went before it the wrong motives the secret feelings the aggravating circumstances, the special acts the guilty pleasure the resistance of the Spirit, the grievings of conscience the miserable consequences.
III. Accept the Punishment. When you confess sin, always do it as one who is accepting punishment. Open your breast to take punishment. Feel and say, ‘Lord, I am here no punishment can be too heavy for me’. But, Oh! Father, ‘mercifully look upon our infirmities, and for the glory of Thy name, turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved’. ‘O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.’
IV. Lay the Sin upon the Altar. And at the same moment realize, and do not doubt, that you are laying your sin upon the true altar, the Lord Jesus Christ. As you speak the self-demeaning words, and as you feel the heaviest convictions, believe that you are laying all upon the head of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall carry all that is there laid on Him, up, far, far away into a land, not inhabited, where they shall be seen and mentioned no more.
V. Make Some Act of Devotion. Then go and try to embody that confession, and give it all the force and substance you can, by some holy act some self-denying labour of love some gift of God some special act of devotion.
But true confession to God will always be accompanied with, and will always produce, the wish to make some confession to man. If you have ever stolen anything, restore it. If you have told a lie, acknowledge it. If you have done anything that can hurt anybody’s feelings, or anybody’s soul, go and make what amends you can. You owe it to that man, you owe it to your own soul. It will be good evidence to all men of the reality of your faith and love.
References. V. 15. J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays After Trinity, part ii. p. 289. J. Vaughan, Sermons (6th Series), p. 14. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv. No. 1483. VI. 1. J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 269. VI. 1-10. F. Hastings, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix. p. 261. VI. 3. T. R. Williams, Sermons by Welshmen, p. 169. J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Prophets, vol. ii. p. 72. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi. No. 1246.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Forsaking God
Hos 4
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” ( Hos 4:6 ).
The Lord must in some way find our life that he may either reward it or chastise it. In this case he will get at the parents through the children. He would not have done this if there had been any other way into their rebellious and obdurate hearts. We must leave him to explain himself in reference to the children; he will do that which is right and merciful; we need not plague ourselves about that aspect of mystery; rather let us fasten attention upon the fact that God means for our good to get at our souls somehow. He will try all the gates, and even if he has to break down the child-gate he will come in. That is the point upon which we are to fix our devout attention. We can of course be tempted in another direction: why attack the children, why conduct himself towards the innocent as if they were guilty? Why punish the innocent for those who have transgressed? So we metaphysically fritter away God’s noblest meaning; we endeavour to solve the insoluble, when we might be accepting with grace and gratitude the inevitable, the disciplinary, and the high administration of divine righteousness.
Then he will proceed with his punishment, and “change their glory into shame.” He shall make the noblest horse as a mean and stumbling ass; he will cause the genius that set itself against him to do menial work, to sing unworthy songs, to paint pictures for the walls of hell; he will turn their eloquence into a new method of lying; that which was once their crown shall be their disgrace; that which was once their chief glory shall be a cloud upon their lives. God will turn things upside down; he will have night at midday, if thereby he can do good to the sons of men. The lesson is that somehow, at some point, divine judgment will lay hold upon us, that it may prepare the way for divine mercy. Judgment will not come alone if he can help it; judgment is God’s strange work. When the fire comes it is only to burn the stubble; when God strikes it is that he may awaken attention; when God takes away the little child it is that we may look up the look that stirs heaven, the look that means, There must be something beyond; the inexplicable look, the attitude religious, even when the tongue is dumb as to praise. So we recur again and again to the deep sweet true lesson that whatever happens in the way of divine discipline, or in the administration of divine law, is meant not only to rebuke us for sin and judge us with tremendous judgment, but to invite us to thought and prayer, to penitence, and through contrition to pardon.
How vividly the sin of the people represented itself to God. We ought to ask, How do other people view our actions? For we are not judges at all times of our own behaviour. But the question should not end there; that inquiry is itself but a hint of broader criticism. We should ask, How does this life appeal to God? God has a right to be heard upon this subject. It is not for man to say that he is judge, and he knows all, and can settle everything, and that his opinion is final. Even art appeals to criticism; even music seems to say in all its undulation, in all its wizardry of sound: Do you feel this? Does it touch you, heal you, inspire you, have some effect upon you? And man must submit his life to divine criticism; his question should be, Lord, this looks well to me, but I can only see it from one point of view; how does it look from heaven? Things are in reality as God sees them, for God sees them in their reality.
“They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.” They live upon it, they pander to people rather than expose their sins, and so long as those sins are profitable the priests seize the produce, and spend it on their own lust, vanity, and ambition. Think of anointed men living on the produce of sin and shame! The people go out and do the sin, and those who are in the sanctuary say, Bring your gains; we will not ask how you got them; only plentifully dispense them to us, and we will ask nothing concerning processes. So the priest was made fat by the iniquity of the people, and the Lord was moved in heaven in the direction of controversy and judgment, and he shook the heaven in his wrath, and condemned those whom he called by the endearing name “My people.” It is something to have a righteous God, whoever invented him. Say these prophets were inventors of a God, it was a noble God they dreamed. His moral character disposes of the theory of invention; it does not lie within the scope of iniquity to dream holiness; it is not within the power of diseased corrupt humanity to invent a spotless God, walking in righteousness, and judging the earth in equity. The Lord inquires about our gains and our produce and our enjoyments, and he will not have upon his altar the result of sin. We are willing to receive it because we are imperfect. A man who has made money by evil practices may bring it to the Church, and with a kind of Protestant papality we say, The end will sanctify the means; we will take this blood-money, and build holy walls with it; we will accept this treasure of shame, and pray it into a kind of purity. The Lord will not have such sacrifice. He loves honesty, truth, righteousness, reality, and he will not close his eyes in connivance when iniquity would seek to bribe the altar. These are the teachings of the Old Testament; verily those teachings might make it a New Testament every day; this morality never grows old; in this ineffable righteousness there is an infinite novelty. Here is the security of the universe, and the security of the Church.
Then we come to words which are often quoted as a proverb: “And there shall be, like people, like priest.” The people may have what they like, and the priest will say, “You could not help it.” The priest will reproduce what the people are doing, and the people will take encouragement from the priest to go out and do double wickedness, and thus they shall keep the action even. To this degree of corruptness may holiest institutions be dragged. The priest meaning by that word teacher, preacher, minister, apostle should always be strong enough to condemn; he can condemn generally, but not particularly; he can damn the distant, he must pet and flatter and gratify the near. He will outgrow this when he knows Christ better; when he is enabled to complete his faith by feeling that it is not necessary for him to live, but it is necessary for him to speak the truth; when he comes to the point of feeling that it is not at all needful that he should have a roof over his head, but it is necessary that he should have an approving conscience; when he completes his theology by this divinest morality, he will be a rare man in the earth, with a great voice thundering its judgments, and with a tender voice uttering its benedictions and solaces where hearts are broken with real contrition. Priests should lead; priests should not neglect denunciation, even where they are unable to follow their denunciation by examples to the contrary. The word should be spoken boldly, roundly, grandly. It will be a woesome day for the nation when the word is not sounded out in all its simplicity, purity, rigour, and tenderness.
The Lord says, “I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their doings.” When we find this word “doings” in the Old Testament associated with God it means great doings. This is one of those words which is at once both substantive and adjective. “Doings” associated with the divine name is a word meaning great things marvellous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty and when the word doings in the old Hebrew is associated with men, it means bold doings, audacity, impudence at its highest height; doings that seek to accomplish by boisterousness and audacity and madness what cannot be accomplished by quietness and wisdom and moral strength. The Lord will crush the impertinence and the folly of sinners.
A wonderful discovery the Lord makes as to the sin of the people; he says, “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills.” That is the bold aspect, that is the public phase; instead of doing all these things, as Ezekiel would say, in a chamber of imagery far down, at which you get through a hole in the wall, they go up to high places, and invite the sun to look upon them; they kiss the calf in public. Some credit should be due to audacity; but there is another sin which cannot be done on the tops of the mountains, so the charge continues “under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good.” Here is the secret aspect of rebellion. Do not believe that the blusterer lives only in public as fool and criminal; do not say, There is a fine frankness about this man, anyhow; when he sins he sins in high places; he goes upon the mountain and stamps his foot upon the high hills, and the great hill throbs and vibrates under his sturdy step. That is not the whole man; he will seek the oak, the poplar, and the elm, because the shadow thereof is good. It is a broad shadow; it makes night in daytime; it casts such a shadow upon the earth which it covers that it amounts to practical darkness. So the blustering sinner is upon the mountain, trying to perpetrate some trick that shall deserve the commendation of being frank, and when he has achieved that commendation he will seek the shadow that is good, the shadow at daytime, the darkness underneath the noontide sun. How the Lord searches us, and tries our life, and puts his fingers through and through us, that nothing may be hidden from him! He touches us at every point, and looks through us, and understands us altogether. There is not a word upon our tongue, there is not a thought in our hearts, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether; thou knowest our thought afar off; ere it is quite rounded into shapeliness thou dost know it in its plasm, in its earliest hint; before the mind knows its own thinking thou knowest it all, and seest it in overt act, in positive malignant disposition.
So the Lord proceeds with his charge, and in a tone of intolerable mockery and irony he returns to Bethaven.
“Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The Lord liveth” ( Hos 4:15 ).
Bethaven substitutes Bethel. In the old, old history Bethel meant house of God, and still means that etymologically; but it has so changed its character that no longer is it Bethel, but Beth-aven house of vanity. Thus the sanctuary may be made a stable; thus the altar may be sold for bread that shall minister to the hunger of wickedness; thus is glory turned into shame: on the temple door is written Ichabod the glory hath departed; the walls are there, let the owls and satyrs find within them what hospitality they can, for the Lord hath gone up with a shout of derision, and Beth-el is Bethaven. Thus do we lose our character; thus the names in which we are baptised become associated with every form of shame, debasement, and disgrace; thus may sweetest memories be depraved; thus may the wine of love become the sour drink of remorse, disappointment, and alienation. How is the fine gold become dim; how are the lofty brought low; and see swirling yonder in the abyss of space the star that made the morning glad! Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
“For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place” ( Hos 4:16 ).
This metaphor is full of suggestion, and full of high philosophy. Israel complained of limitation; Israel was chafed by the yoke, and Israel resented the puncture of the goad. Israel said, “I want liberty, I do not want this moral bondage any longer; I do not want to be surrounded by commandments, I do not want to live in a cage of ten bars called the ten commandments of God: I want liberty; let me follow my reason, my instincts, let me obey myself.” The Lord said, So be it. “The Lord will feed thee as a lamb in a large place”: thou shalt have liberty enough, but it shall be the liberty of a wilderness. You can have liberty, but you will find no garden in it; if you want the garden you must have the law. Here is a lamb that says, “I want liberty; I do not want this pasture and this fold, and this shepherdliness; I want to go where I like.” Very good, saith the great Shepherd in heaven, go: you shall have place enough, but it shall be the place of a wilderness. Let us take care how we trifle with law, obligation, responsibility, limitation. When we are tethered down to a centre it means something; we are tethered for our good. Our brain can only do a certain amount of work: if we want a larger liberty we may take the liberty of insanity. That is open folly. He is the wise man who says, I have but a certain capacity, I have so many talents, I have so much time in which to work: Lord, teach me how to make the best of what thou hast given me to begin the world with; I will not pine for five talents or ten, thou hast given me two: help me to double them; I should like to do as large thinking as some other men, and be as brilliant as they are, but I know I never should be what they are in thy great Church and world; therefore make me contented with what I have, obedient, simple-minded, frank-hearted, always seeking opportunities of doing what little thing or great thing may be in my power. Poor foolish lamb! it was not content with the home pasture; it said, There is food enough here, but I want more than food; the grass is rich and succulent, and green and plentiful, but I want liberty. And the lamb vaulted over the stone wall, or pushed itself through the sheltering hedge, and away it went into the liberty of a stony desert. We still need the commandments, we still need the beatitudes; we are yet mortal. Blessed is he who knows the number of his days, and who spends them in a spirit of wisdom. Do not seek too much liberty. The moment you pass beyond the appointed boundary you are lost, and only he can find you who is willing to leave the unfallen, that he may seek and save that which is lost. Do not run the risk. The devil is so acute that you may be tempted, even in the wilderness, to think you can feed your hunger with stones. Consider and be wise, for there may a time come when the Lord will say, “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone;” that is to say, Give him rest; let him get out of his idols what he can; let there be no longer any expostulation, entreaty, beseechment, importunity, care, anxious love, solicitous philanthropy; he is lost, now let him alone. Awful word, tremendous judgment! For God to let us alone is hell.
The Lord is not content with calling one class to judgment; he is universal in his claim. He says, “Hear ye this, O priests;” that is one class “and hearken, ye house of Israel;” that is another class “and give ye ear, O house of the king;” that is the greatest dignity. So you have the sacerdotal and the popular and the royal; and the reason is that “judgment is toward” them, “because ye have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor.” The Lord charges them all with having been “profound to make slaughter” deep in iniquity, wonderful power of scheming in the art of destruction. Men can be clever in wickedness. There is a bungling criminality that any vulgar mind can imitate; but even crime may be carried on to the point of a fine art; the mind takes eagerly with a fine willingness to certain species of sin and evil. If men would turn these great talents which are prostituted in the cause of wickedness to honest ways of obtaining a livelihood, to what eminence they might attain! How is it that the heart loves to be skilled in evil? Is there no meaning in this? Is it a mere chance in the mystery of life, or does it indicate the solemn tremendous fact that we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; there is none righteous, no, not one?
The Lord says, “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me” ( Hos 5:3 ). In English we do not get the meaning of this fully. The “I” is emphatic. Very seldom in English rhetoric is any emphasis to be laid upon a word like “I”; we should throw the emphasis upon the word “know.” “I know Ephraim,” and in English that would be equal to what it is in Hebrew, namely, “I, even I, know Ephraim”: whether he is on the hill, or whether he is in the shadow which he considers good, wherever he is, whatever he is doing, my eye is fixed upon him; he does not escape criticism; God’s mind is watching judicially everything that the sinner is doing, “Thou God seest me” not in the sense of thou protectest me, and thou knowest me; but in a critical sense thou dost penetrate my reins and my heart, my thought and my unconfessed purpose, and it is not in man to find an inviolable solitude.
“They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them” ( Hos 5:4 ).
They cannot set up any framework of God; they are poor moral carpenters: their fingers lose all skill when they seek to put up something that shall have the appearance at least of morality and goodness. They no sooner set up one side of the edifice than the other falls down, and the framework will not hold together, because the spirit is wrong. Away with your mechanical morality; away with your frameworks of honour and social security, even of education when it is meant as a substitute for moral earnestness and purity. It is the spirit that must be renewed; we do not want a framework, but a genius of heart, an atmosphere of soul, a new manhood “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good. Do not trouble yourselves about the framework. You are not carpenters, you are men; you are not mechanics, you are souls. Do not trifle with the tragedy of life.
Prayer
Almighty God, we need thy sweet Word evermore. It is not enough to live to-day; we must never cease to live. This is the mystery of life; with all its pain and shadow, its weakness and disappointment, still it clings to itself, it lingers and yearns after immortality. Thy commandment is exceeding broad, but so is thy promise: thy mercy endureth for ever. This is our joy; into this holy place we come from time to time to renew our life, to sing our hymn of praise and thanks, and to take again into the world redoubled and ennobled strength. Thou hast been our God; thou wilt not forsake us; thou wast our father’s God, and thou didst never exclude the children from thine overflowing and redundant blessing. When didst thou speak alone to those who were living? Thou didst speak beyond them, to all the ages that should come. Why should the Lord speak twice? Doth not his breath fill infinity? Is not the look of his love the look of eternity? We bless thee, therefore, for thy Word once spoken, once delivered unto the saints, once made clear to the hungry, yearning, agonised heart of man. It is enough, it is finished; the river of God is full of water. Pity us in all our littleness; have mercy upon us in all the aggravation of our sin. We thought of sin like an infinite cloud until we saw the Cross; then understood we the Word. Where sin abounded grace hath much more abounded; heaven is broader than perdition; God is mightier than all his enemies; the throne of the Lord covereth all space and all duration. If we have rendered any service to thee, the praise be thine; if aught has been done to make thy kingdom appear in its truest beauty, the vision was from heaven. We praise thee, therefore, with undivided tribute and eulogy for all thy tender grace, for all thy lovingkindness. Bind us up in the bundle of life; see to it that no man pluck us out of thine hand. May we never perish in sight of land, but be brought safely home, quite home, right into the innermost place of home; there not to change, but to continue and heighten our Christian song. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
VIII
THE BOOK OF HOSEA PART 2
Hos 4:1-14:9
What has previously been presented in figure and symbol in the first section of the book is now plainly and literally stated. Jehovah’s controversy with Israel is set forth in Hos 4:1-5 . Someone has called this “The Lord’s Lawsuit” in which he brings grave charges against Israel for sins of omission followed by sins of commission. The sins of omission which led to the sins of commission are that there were no truth, no goodness, and no knowledge of God in the land. These omissions led to the gravest sins of commission, viz: profanity, covenant-breaking, murder, stealing, and adultery. The evidence in this case was so strong that there was no plea of “not guilty” entered, and Jehovah proceeded at once, after making the indictment, to announce the sentence: Destruction!
This verdict of destruction was for the lack of knowledge, which emphasizes the responsibility of the opportunity to know. They had rejected knowledge and had forgotten the law of Jehovah, and as the priests were the religious leaders and instructors of the people, the sentence is heavy against them, but “like people, like priest” shows the equality of the responsibility and the judgment. There is no excuse for either. He who seeks to know the agenda, God will reveal the credenda. The sentence is again stated, thus: Rejection, forgetting her children, shame, requite them their doings, hunger and harlotry. Such a sentence hung over them like a deadly pall.
In Hos 4:11-14 whoredom and wine are named together, not by accident but because they are companion evils, which is the universal testimony of those who practice either. Here they are said to take away the understanding, or as the Hebrew puts it, the heart. Both are literally true. That the understanding is marred and blighted by these evils is evidenced in the case of the thousands who have rendered themselves unfit for service anywhere by wasting their strength with wine and harlots. That the heart, the seat of affections, is destroyed by these evils witness the thousands of divorce cases in our courts today. By such a course the very vitals of man are burnt out and he then becomes the prey to every other evil in the catalogue. Let the youth of our country heed the warning of the prophet. Here Israel, engrossed with these sins, is pictured as going deeper and deeper in sin and degradation until they pass beyond the power of description. Notice that the Lord here holds the men responsible and pronounces a mighty invective against the modern double standard of morals. In God’s sight the transgressor is the guilty party, whether man or woman.
Though Israel has played the harlot, Judah is warned in Hos 4:15-19 that she may not follow the example of Israel. The places of danger are pointed out and the example of Israel is used to enforce the warning. Israel is stubborn; Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone. Israel is wrapped in the winds of destruc-tion and shall soon be put to shame, therefore, take heed, Judah.
There are several notable things in the address of Hos 5:1-7 : First, the whole people priests, Israel, and the royal house was involved in the judgment because each one was responsible for the existing conditions, their great centers of revolt against Jehovah being pointed out as Mizpeh, east of the Jordan; and Tabor, west of the Jordan. Second, the fact that Jehovah himself was the rebuker of them. God is the one undisputable judge and he will judge and he will judge them all. Though the mills of God grind slowly, Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all,
Third, God’s omniscience: “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me.” So he knows us and there is nothing hid from him. Fourth, men are hindered from turning to God by their gins. Fifth, positive instruction awaits the sinner (Hos 5:5 ). Sixth, sacrifices and seeking are too late after doom is pronounced. Repentance must come within the space allotted for it; otherwise, it is too late.
The cornet and trumpet in Hos 5:8-15 signifies the alarm in view of the approaching enemy. In the preceding paragraph the prophet signified their certain destruction and now he indicates that it is at hand, again assigning the reason, that Judah had become as bold as those who remove the landmarks, and Ephraim was content to walk after man’s commandments. Then he shows by the figure of the moth and the woodworm that he is slowly consuming both Israel and Judah, but they were applying to other powers for help to hold out and that the time would come when he, like the lion, would make quick work of his judgments upon Israel and Judah; that they will not seek him till their affliction comes.
Paragraph Hos 6:1-3 is the exhortation of the Israelites to one another at the time of their affliction mentioned in the last verse of the preceding chapter and should be introduced by the word, “saying,” as indicated in the margin of Hos 5:15 . The expressions, “He hath torn” and “he hath smitten,” evidently refer to the preceding verses which describe Jehovah’s dealing with Israel and Judah as a lion. This exhortation represents them after their affliction, saying to one another, “Come, and let us return unto Jehovah,” etc. The “two days” and the “third day” are expressions representing short periods, not literal or typical days. They are then represented as pursuing knowledge which is the opposite to their present condition in their lack of knowledge. Now they are perishing for the lack of knowledge but then they will flourish as land flourishes in the time of the latter rain. There is a primary fulfilment of this prophecy in the return after the captivity but the larger fulfilment will be at their final return and conversion at which commences the revival destined to sweep the world into the kingdom of God. As Peter says, it will be “the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” (Act 3:19 ).
A paraphrase of Hos 6:4-11 shows its interpretation and application, thus: “O Ephraim, O Judah, I am perplexed as to what remedy next to apply to you; your goodness is so shallow and transitory that my judgments have to be repeated from time to time. I desire goodness, i.e., works of charity, the right attitude of life, and the proper condition of the heart, rather than sacrifice. But instead of this you have, like Adam in the garden of Eden, transgressed my covenant and have dealt treacherously against me, as in the case of the Gileadites and the case of the murderous priests in the way to Shechem, and oh, the horribleness of your crimes! and, O Judah, there is a harvest for you, too.”
In the charges against Israel in Hos 7:1-16 the prophet gives the true state of affairs, viz: that the divine desire to heal was frustrated by the discovery of pollution, and by their persistent ignoring of God; that the pollution of the nation was manifest in the king, the princes, and the judges; that Ephraim was mixing among the people and had widespread influence, over the ten tribes, yet he was as a cake not turned; that he was an utter failure, being developed on one side, and on the other destroyed by burning; that he was unconscious of his wasting strength and ignored the plain testimony of the Pride of Israel; that as a silly dove, he was indicating fear and cowardice. Then the prophet concludes the statement of the case by a declaration of the utter folly of the people whom God was scourging toward redemption, to which they responded by howling, assembling, and rebelling.
Now we take up Hos 8 . From the statement of the case the prophet turned, in Hos 8:1-14 , to the pronouncement of judgment by the figure of the trumpet lifted to the mouth, uttering five blasts, in each of which the sin of the people was set forth as revealing the reason for judgment. The first blast declared the coming of judgment under the figure of an eagle, because of transgression and trespass. The second blast emphasized Israel’s sin of rebellion, in that they had set up kings and princes without authority of Jehovah. The third dealt with Israel’s idolatry, announcing that Jehovah had cast off the calf of Samaria. The fourth denounced Israel’s alliances and declared that her hire among the nations had issued in her diminishing. The fifth drew attention to the altars of sin and announced the coming judgment.
These judgments in detail are given in Hos 9 . Its first note was that of the death of joy. Israel could not find her joy like other peoples. Having known Jehovah, everything to which she turned in turning from him, failed to satisfy. How true is this of the individual backslider! The unsatisfied heart is constantly crying out, Where is the blessedness I knew, When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his word?
The second note was that of actual exile to which she must pass: back to the slavery of Egypt and Assyria and away from the offerings and feasts of the Lord. The third was that of the cessation of prophecy. The means of testing themselves would be corrupted. The fourth declared the retributive justice of fornication. The prophet traced the growth of this pollution from its beginning at Baal-peor, and clearly set forth the inevitable deterioration of the impure people. The fifth and last was that of the final casting out of the people by God so that they should become wanderers among the nations.
In Hos 10 we have the prophet’s recapitulation and appeal. This closes the section. The whole case is stated under the figure of the vine. Israel was a vine of God’s planting which had turned its fruitfulness to evil account and was therefore doomed to his judgment. The result of this judgment would be the lament of the people that they had no king who was able to deliver them, and chastisement would inevitably follow. The last paragraph is an earnest and passionate appeal to return to loyalty.
Some things in Hos 10 need special explanation: First, note the expression here, “They will say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.” This furnishes the analogue for the final destruction of the world and the judgment as given in Luk 23:30 and Rev 6:16 . Here the expression is used to indicate the horrors of the capture and destruction of the kingdom of Israel, the sufferings and distress of which are a foreshadowing of the great tribulation at the end of the world.
Second, the reference to Gibeah in Hos 10:9 needs a little explanation. This sin of Gibeah is the sin of the shameful outrage which with its consequences is recorded in Judges 19-20. That sin became proverbial, overtopping, as it did, all the ordinary iniquities, by its shameless atrocity and heinousness. By a long-continued course of sin, even from ancient days, Ephraim had been preparing for a fearful doom.
The third reference is to Shalman who destroyed Betharbel (Hos 10:14 ). There are several theories about this incident. Some think that “Shalman” is a short form of “Shalmaneser,” that Shalmaneser IV, who in the invasion which is mentioned (2Ki 17:3 ) fought a battle in the valley of Jezreel, in which he broke the power of Samaria in fulfilment of Hos 1:5 and about the same time stormed the neighboring town of Arbela, but who this “Shalman” was and what place was “Betharbel” are only matters of uncertain conjecture. All that is positively known is that the sack of Betharbel had made upon the minds of the Israelites an impression similar to that which in the seventeenth century was made far and wide by the sack of Madgeburg.
According to our brief outline the title of section Hos 11:1-14:8 is “Pollution and Pity.” This third cycle of the prophecy sets forth the pity which Jehovah has for his sinning people, and contains a declaration of Jehovah’s attitude toward Israel notwithstanding her sin. Chapters 11-13 are for the most part the speech of Jehovah himself. He sums up, and in so doing declares his sense of the awfulness of their sin, pronouncing his righteous judgment thereupon. Yet throughout the movement the dominant notes are those of pity and love, and the ultimate victory of that love over sin, and consequently over judgment. Three times in the course of this great message of Jehovah to his people (Hos 11:1-13:16 ), the prophet interpolates words of his own.
This message of Jehovah falls into three clearly marked elements which deal: (1) with the present in the light of past love (Hos 11:1-11 ); (2) with the present in the light of present love (Hos 12:7-11 ) ; (3) with the present in the light of future love (Hos 13:4-14 ).
The prophet’s interpolations set forth the history of Israel indicating their relation to Jehovah, and pronounce judgment. They form a remarkable obligate accompaniment, in a minor key, to the majestic love song of Jehovah, and constitute a contrasting introduction to the final message of the prophet. The first of them reveals the prophet’s sense of Jehovah’s controversy with Judah, his just dealings with Jacob, and, reminiscent of Jacob’s history, he makes a deduction and an appeal (Hos 11:12-13:6 ). The second traces the progress of Israel to death (Hos 12:12-13:3 ). The third declares their doom (Hos 13:15-16 ).
Then in general, Jehovah’s message in Hos 11:1-11 is as follows:
In this first movement, Jehovah reminded the people of his past love for them in words full of tenderness, setting out their present condition in its light, and crying, “How shall I give thee up?” Which inquiry was answered by the determined declaration of the ultimate triumph of love, and the restoration of the people.
There are two incidents of Israel’s history cited in this first part of Jehovah’s message. The first incident cited is the calling of Israel out of Egypt, which is quoted in Mat 2:15 and applied to our Lord Jesus Christ as a fulfilment of this prophecy. Hosea clearly refers to the calling of Israel out of Egypt, the nation being elsewhere spoken of as God’s son (Exo 4:22 ; Jer 3:9 ). But there is evident typical relation between Israel and the Messiah.
As Israel in the childhood of the nation was called out of Egypt, so Jesus. We may even find resemblance in minute details; his temptation of forty days in the desert, resembles Israel’s temptation of forty years in the desert, which itself corresponded to the forty days spent by the spies (Num 14:34 ). Thus we see how Hosea’s historical statement concerning Israel may have been also a prediction concerning the Messiah, as the Evangelist declares it was. It is not necessary to suppose that this was present to the prophet’s consciousness. Exalted by inspiration, a prophet may well have said things having deeper meanings than he was distinctly aware of, and which only a later inspiration, coming when the occasion arose, could fully unfold BROADUS on Mat 2:15 . The second incident in the history of God’s people cited is the destruction of Adman, Zeboim, Sodom, and Gomorrah, all of which are mentioned in Deu 29:23 as destroyed by Jehovah for their wickedness. The warning is a powerful one to Ephraim, or Israel, who are here threatened with destruction.
The prophet’s message in his first interpolation (Hos 11:12-12:6 ) is a lesson from the history of Jacob showing Israel’s relation to him. The prophet here goes back to the earliest history of Jacob showing God’s dealing with him from his conception to his settlement at Bethel, where God gave him the promise of a multitude of descendants. This bit of history includes the struggle between him and Esau before birth, and his wrestling with the angel.
In Hos 12:7-11 Jehovah sets out their present sin in the light of his present love. The sin of Ephraim and its pride and impertinence are distinctly stated and yet over all, love triumphs. Jehovah declared himself to be the God who delivered them from Egypt, and who would be true to the message of the prophets, to the visions of the seers and to the similitudes of the ministry of the prophets. There is an allusion in verse 7 to Jacob’s deception of Isaac, which characteristic seems to have been handed down to his posterity, as here indicated.
In the prophets second interpolation (Hos 12:12-13:3 ) he traces the progress of Israel to death, beginning at the flight to the field of Aram, through the exodus from Egypt and the preservation to the present, in which Ephraim was exalted in Israel, offended in Baal and died. Their certain doom is here announced.
Then follows Jehovah’s message in Hos 13:4-14 in which he sets forth the present condition of Israel in the light of his future love. Sin abounds, and therefore judgment is absolutely unavoidable. Nevertheless, the mighty strength of love must overcome at last.
There are several things in the passage worthy of special note. First, the allusions here to Jehovah’s dealings with them from Egypt to their destination in Canaan, their exaltation and his destruction of them. Second, the allusion to their history under kings, beginning with Saul, whom he gave them in his anger and whom he took away in his wrath. The statement may apply to the long line of kings of the Northern Kingdom, but it fits the case of Saul more especially and throws light on the problem of Saul’s mission as king of Israel. Third, the promise of their restoration under the figure of a resurrection (Hos 13:14 ), which is quoted and applied to the final resurrection by Paul (1Co 15:55 ) and which shows the typical import of this passage. It is like a flash of light in the darkest hour of despair.
Dr. Pusey on this passage has well said:
God by his prophets mingles promises of mercy in the midst of his threats of punishment. His mercy overflows the bounds of the occasion upon which he makes it known. He had sentenced Ephraim to temporal destruction. This was unchangeable. He points to that which turns all temporal loss into gain, that eternal redemption. The words are the fullest which could have been chosen. The word rendered “ransom” signifies rescued them by the payment of a price; the word rendered “redeem” relates to one who, as the nearest of kin, had the right to acquire anything as his own by paying the price. Both words in their exactest sense, describe what Jesus did, buying us with a price . . . and becoming our near kinsman by his incarnation. . . . The words refuse to be tied down to temporal deliverance. A little longer continuance in Canaan is not a redemption from the power of the grave; nor was Ephraim so delivered.
The expression, “repentance shall be hid from mine eyes,” means that God will never turn from his purpose to be merciful to Israel.
In the prophet’s last interpolation (Hos 13:15-16 ) he goes back to the death sentence showing the complete destruction of Ephraim and Samaria by the Eastern power, Assyria. The reference to Ephraim’s fruitfulness goes back to the promise of Jacob to Joseph, “He shall be a fruitful bough,” though Ephraim had turned this fruitfulness to evil and thus is brought to desolation.
Hos 14 gives us the final call of the prophet with the promise of Jehovah. The call was to the people to return because they had fallen by iniquity. It suggests the method of returning, as being that of bringing words of penitence, and forsaking all false gods. To this Jehovah answered in a message full of hope for the people, declaring that he would restore, renew, and ultimately reinstate them. There is no question but that this final word of prophecy has a reference to the return from the exile but that this return does not exhaust the meaning of this prophecy is also very evident. The larger fulfilment is to be spiritual and finds its expression in the final conversion of the Jews as voiced by Peter: “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” (Act 3:19 ).
The book closes with a brief epilogue, which demands attention to all the prophet has written, whether for warning, or reproof, or correction in righteousness, or encouragement to piety and virtue. Like the dictates of the Word, so the dispensations of his providence are to some the savor of life, to others the savor of death. So it is added that, while the righteous walk therein, in them the wicked stumble.
In closing this chapter I will say that Hosea occupies a period of transition in developing the messianic idea from the earlier prophets to Micah and Isaiah, in whose writings abounds the messianic element:
(1) Hosea, like Amos, predicts the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, but he looks beyond it to a brighter day, when the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea in number, will be accepted of Jehovah as sons and daughters, and Judah and Israel will have one head, Christ (Hos 1:10-2:1 , et al).
(2) Hosea’s experience with an unfaithful wife is an object lesson of God’s forgiveness of Israel. Their spiritual adultery must lead them into exile but Jehovah will betroth Israel to himself in righteousness, and take the Gentiles into the same covenant (Hos 2:2-3:5 ; Rom 9:25-26 ).
(3) Hos 11:1 was fulfilled in the return of Joseph and Mary from Egypt with the babe, Jesus (Mat 2:15 ). So Jesus the antitype of Adam, Israel, and David.
(4) Hos 11:8-11 expresses Jehovah’s promise to restore Israel.
(5) Hos 13:14 is a messianic promise foreshadowing the resurrection.
(6) Hos 14:1-8 is a messianic promise of Israel’s final repentance, God’s reinstatement of them and their abundant blessings in the millennium.
I quote Dr. Sampey: In general, the earlier prophets describe clearly a terrible captivity of Jehovah’s people, to be followed by a return to their own land, where they were to enjoy the divine blessing. The everlasting love and compassion of Jehovah are repeatedly described, and the future enlargement of Israel is clearly set forth. The person of Messiah, however, is not distinctly brought before the reader. Isaiah and Micah will have much to say of the character and work of the Messaih Himself
QUESTIONS
1. What the character of this division, as contrasted with the first three chapters of Hosea?
2. What Jehovah’s controversy with Israel as set forth in Hos 4:1-5 ?
3. Why the verdict of destruction, as set forth in Hos 4:6-10 ?
4. What two practices are named together in Hos 4:11-14 , and what their effect upon the mind of man?
5. What warning to Judah in Hos 4:15-19 ?
6. What the notable things in the address of Hos 5:1-7 ?
7. What the significance and the application of the cornet and trumpet in Hos 5:8-15 ?
8. What the interpretation and application of Hos 6:1-3 ?
9. Paraphrase Hos 6:4-11 so as to show its interpretation and application.
10. What the charges against Israel in Hos 7:1-16 ?
11. How does the prophet pronounce judgment and what the significance in each case (Hos 8:1-14 )?
12. Describe these judgments in detail as given in Hos 9 .
13. State briefly the prophet’s recapitulation and appeal (Hos 10:1-15 ).
14. What things in Hos 10 need special explanation, and what the explanation in each case?
15. According to our brief outline what the title of section Hos 11:1-14:8 , and what in general, are its contents?
16. What the general features of the message of Jehovah?
17. What the general features of the prophet’s interpolations?
18. What, in general, is Jehovah’s message in Hos 11:1-11 ?
19. What two incidents of Israel’s history cited in this first part of Jehovah’s message, and what their interpretation and application?
20. What the prophet’s message in his first interpolation (Hos 11:12-12:6 )?
21. What, in general, Jehovah’s message in Hos 12:7-11 ?
22. What allusion to an incident in the life of Jacob in this passage?
23. What the substance of the prophet’s second interpolation (Hos 12:12-13:3 )?
24. What, in general, Jehovah’s message in Hos 13:4-14 ?
25. What things in the passage worthy of special note?
26. What the prophet’s message in his last interpolation (Hos 13:15-16 )?
27. What the contents of Hos 14 ?
28. Give a summary of the messianic predictions in the book of Hosea.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Hos 5:1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment [is] toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
Ver. 1. Hear ye this, ye priests ] For you are not so wise but that ye may “hear and increase learning,” Pro 1:5 Hos 4:6 ; and besides, from you is profaneness gone forth into all the land, Jer 23:15 . For you, therefore, in the first place, I have a citation to appear before God’s tribunal to hear your sin and your sentence, your crime and your doom. God cited Adam immediately and by himself, Gen 3:9 , “Adam, where art thou?” so he did Cain, Laban, Nabal, and others, when he sends for them by death, saying as once to that pope, Veni miser in iudicium, Come away, and hear thy sentence. Centum revolutis annis Deo respondebitis et mihi. Mediately he citeth men by the mouth of his ministers; as he did the Council of Constance by his faithful martyr, John Huss, and his word stood: and as he doth here the three estates of the kingdom, priests, people, and princes, by the prophet Hosea. That was very strange and extraordinary, that Mr Knox reporteth in his history of Scotland, of one Sir John Hamilton, murdered by the king’s means; that he appeared to him in a vision with a naked sword drawn, and strikes off both his arms with these words, Take this before thou receive a final payment for all thine impieties: and within twenty-four hours two of the king’s sons died. It is, indeed, but part of their punishment that wicked men here receive, seem it never so grievous, when God entereth into judgment with them, as here it is said.
For judgment is toward you
For judgment is toward you
Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah
Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Hos 5:1-7
1Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you,
For you have been a snare at Mizpah
And a net spread out on Tabor.
2The revolters have gone deep in depravity,
But I will chastise all of them.
3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,
Israel has defiled itself.
4Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God.
For a spirit of harlotry is within them,
And they do not know the LORD.
5Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also has stumbled with them.
6They will go with their flocks and herds
To seek the LORD, but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them.
7They have dealt treacherously against the LORD,
For they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their land.
Hos 5:1-2 Hear See note at Hos 4:1. This chapter starts out with three IMPERATIVES related to hearing God’s message.
1. Hear, BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERATIVE, hear and obey, e.g., Deu 6:4
2. Give heed, BDB 904, KB 1151, Hiphil IMPERATIVE, listen attentively, e.g., Isa 10:30; Isa 28:23; Isa 34:1; Isa 49:1; Mic 1:2
3. Listen, BDB 24, KB 27, Hiphil IMPERATIVE, give ear e.g., Gen 4:23; Num 23:18; Isa 32:9
These different VERBS are given to show three different groups of hearers:
1. O priests
2. O house of Israel
3. O house of the king
Mizpah. . .Tabor. . .gone deep in depravity There are three different geographical settings mentioned here (matching the three IMPERATIVES and three groups). Gone deep in depravity should be translated by the place name Shittim (BHS suggested emendation, cf. Num 25:1 ff).
Mizpah This (BDB 859) means outpost or watchtower. There are so many towns by this name which are scattered throughout the Promised Land that the exact site is uncertain. However, we do know that it was the site of a sacred pillar which was the symbol of the male fertility god, Ba’al.
Tabor This (BDB 1061) is a possible allusion to Deu 33:18-19. Like any other ancient site it was once devoted to YHWH, but now it had become amalgamated with Tyrian Ba’alism.
a NET The term (BDB 440) could refer to a fishing net, but because of the parallel with snares used for birds, it probably means that here (e.g., Hos 7:12; Pro 1:17). The priests were trying to ensnare faithful worshipers of YHWH into the amalgamated worship of the fertility gods at YHWH worship sites.
Hos 5:2
NASB, NKJVThe revolters
NRSV, NJBShittim
TEVat Acacia City
This (BDB 962) could mean swerver or revolter. However, many scholars assume this line of poetry means . . .and the pit of Shittim they have made deep (i.e., another city to match the three IMPERATIVES and three groups of people).
The MT has the VERB make deep (BDB 770, KB 847, Niphil PERFECT), used in the sense of Israel’s low view of the value of human life (cf. Hos 4:2; Hos 6:9). The same word is used in Hos 9:9 to refer to the sin and death at Gibeah (cf. Judges 19).
It is also possible to render this line of poetry as the revolters have gone deep in slaughtering (BDB 1006). If this is correct then this may refer to child sacrifice (cf. Isa 57:5 and Eze 23:39).
Hos 5:3 Ephraim and Israel After the Jewish kingdom divided in 922 B.C. the northern tribes were known by the following names: (1) by their capital city, Samaria; (2) by their largest tribe, Ephraim (e.g., Isa 7:9; Isa 7:17); and (3) by the collective term for their ancestor Jacob, Israel.
I know. . .is not hidden from Me These two VERBS (#1 BDB 393, KB 390, Qal PERFECT, #2 BDB 470, KB 469, Niphal PERFECT) are parallel to highlight the omniscience of God (on an individual level see Psa 69:5; Psa 139:15). He knows their idolatry (cf. Hos 5:3 b &c), which is made all the worse because they are His covenant people (cf. Amo 3:2, you only have I known, NRSV).
Israel has defiled herself The VERB (BDB 379, KB 375, Niphal PERFECT) means to be ceremonially unclean by the violation of a Mosaic covenant requirement or prohibition (cf. Hos 6:10; Hos 9:3-4; Mic 2:10). The clean vs. unclean theology is seen clearly in Lev 10:10; Deu 12:15; Deu 12:22; Deu 15:22; Eze 22:26; Eze 44:23).
Hos 5:4 Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God This verse personifies Israel’s idolatry (cf. Hos 5:5). Some scholars see this in combination with Hos 4:12; Hos 4:19 as a personal evil influence.
The people of Israel had become so settled in their evil character (i.e., spirit of harlotry) that they had passed the point of no return (cf. Hos 4:17; Psa 81:12; Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28).
they do not know the LORD The Hebrew term to know implies intimate relationship (cf. Gen 4:1). They had no personal relationships with God though they were active participators in religious ritual and liturgy (cf. Isa 29:13). Lack of knowledge, both personal and covenantal, is the recurrent theme of Hosea (cf. Hos 2:20; Hos 4:1; Hos 4:6; Hos 6:3; Hos 6:6). See Special Topic: Know .
Hos 5:5
NASBthe pride of Israel testifies against him
NKJVthe pride of Israel testifies to his face
NRSVIsrael’s pride testifies against him
TEVthe arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them
NJBIsrael’s arrogance is his accuser
Some see this as a reference to YHWH because of Amo 8:7, but in this context it refers to Israel’s trust in her covenantal status. She was very religious and cultically active. It is this very pride in ritual, liturgy, and form which judged them in two areas: (1) form without true faith and (2) faith in the wrong god. To whom much is given, much is required (Luk 12:48). This covenant knowledge makes their attitudes and actions even more evil!
stumble. . .stumbled The VERB (BDB 505, KB 502) is used twice in Hos 5:5. In the OT God’s will for His people was characterized as a path or way. To leave the path or stumble on the way was a metaphor for sin and rebellion (cf. Hos 14:1).
Often stumble is paired with fall (cf. Pro 24:17; Isa 3:8; Isa 31:3; Jer 6:15; Jer 8:12; Jer 46:6; Jer 46:16), but also used in a metaphorical sense.
Hos 5:6 They will go with their flocks and herds Israel tries to approach YHWH through her many sacrifices, but He will not be found (cf. Amo 5:21-23; Isa 1:10-15; Jer 14:12; nor His word, Amo 8:12)! The sacrificial system, which was a way for sinful humans to approach a holy God, has been abrogated! The Covenant is broken!
Hos 5:7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD The VERB (BDB 93, KB 108, Qal PERFECT) is regularly used of a marriage covenant (e.g., Mal 2:14-16). Here it is used of Israel being faithless to YHWH (cf. Jer 3:20).
illegitimate children This could be taken
1. literally, priests and people actively involved in fertility rituals
2. metaphorically, Israel seeking foreign alliances to protect herself from invasion instead of seeking YHWH
the new moon will devour them with their land Again notice the literary technique of personification. YHWH rejects all of Israel’s holy days (cf. Hos 2:11).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Hear . . . O priests. This is a call to the priests and others, as Hos 4:1-5 was also a call to Israel.
judgment is toward you = judgment is denounced upon you.
Mizpah. There were five places with this name: (1) Now Suf (Gen 31:49. Jdg 10:17; Jdg 11:11, Jdg 11:29, Jdg 11:34; Jdg 20:1, Jdg 20:3; Jdg 21:1, Jdg 21:6, Jdg 21:8). (2) In Moab (1Sa 22:3), not identified. (3) The land (or valley) of Moab, now el Bukei’a (Jos 11:3). (4) In Judah, not identified (Jos 15:38). (5) In Benjamin, not identified (Jos 18:26. Jdg 22:1-3; Jdg 21:1, Jdg 21:5, Jdg 21:8; 1Sa 7:5-16; 1Sa 10:17. 1Ki 15:22; 2Ki 25:23, 2Ki 25:25; 2Ch 16:6. Neh 3:7, Neh 3:15, Neh 3:19. Jer 40:6-15; Jer 41:1-16, and in this passage, Hos 5:1). Mizpah was a symbol of keeping apart, not of meeting again, as erroneously used to-day. Tabor is on the west of Jordan and not connected with Ephraim; but Tabor means a mound; so that the idolatrous altar may have been called Mizpah, while Tabor was the “mound” of Gen 31, both belonging to the same district. Hosea is said to have been buried at Mizpah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Shall we begin tonight with chapter 5.
In chapter 5, Hosea the prophet speaks for the Lord unto the priests and unto the princes of Israel, unto the house of the king.
Hear ye this, O priests; hearken, you house of Israel; give ear, house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah, and have spread a net upon Tabor ( Hsa Hos 5:1 ).
Now Tabor is a mountain that is very prominent in the area of the Galilee. It is easy to spot because it a round domed mountain. Constantine’s mother Helena felt that that was the spot were Jesus was transfigured and so they built some churches of transfiguration on top of Tabor. But from scriptural evidence, inasmuch as Jesus went into a high mountain apart, it probably wasn’t Tabor because it isn’t really very high and it’s not apart; it’s right in the center of things. He was probably transfigured on Mount Hermon. Now Mizpah was one of the peaks at Mount Hermon. Tabor in the middle of the country, that is of Samaria, and Mizpah up in the northern end near Lebanon.
According to tradition, when the Northern Kingdom established the Northern Empire, Jeroboam was quite concerned about the people returning to Jerusalem to worship. And so he instituted the calf worship in the Northern Kingdom and he set up centers of worship in Bethel and in Dan. And his fear was that if they continued to go back to Jerusalem for the feast, that their hearts might be again united with the king of Judah. So he sought to keep them from returning. Now, they say that there were men who would stand on Tabor and stand on Mizpah to watch to see if anyone was returning to Jerusalem during the feast period, in order that they might fall upon them and destroy them. So they would set a snare or a trap for those who might be going down to Jerusalem to worship.
That’s one view. The other, which I feel is probably more legitimate, because there’s several objections to that. Number one, you can get to Jerusalem without being seen from Tabor quite easily. If you were going through the Jordan valley, there’s no way they would see you from Tabor. And actually, again, from the area of the northern Galilee you couldn’t really tell too much from Mount Mizpah. The other is that this was a great area for hawking, for bird snaring. And the picture is these fellows setting their bird snares, the fowlers who were setting their bird snares, those that were hawking in these areas. And so it becomes a picture of these who have spread their snare on Mizpah and their net was spread upon Tabor.
The revolters [he said] are profound to make slaughter ( Hsa Hos 5:2 ),
When they offer their sacrifices unto the gods in the Northern Kingdom they would do it with great flare. Again, trying to make a big deal out of it so all of the people would be in awe. So that is what is meant by “profound to make slaughter.”
Though [the Lord said,] I’ve been the rebuker of them all. I know Ephraim [the major tribe of the Northern Kingdom] and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, you are committing whoredom, and Israel is defiled. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. The pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; and Judah also shall fall with them ( Hsa Hos 5:2-5 ).
So, because they had turned from God and were worshiping these false gods, that was always considered by God as whoredom. “You’ve gone away from the true and the living God. You’re worshiping Baal or you’re worshiping the other idols,” and God looked upon that as spiritual adultery, as whoredom. And because of it, they are going to fall. And here’s a prediction of the fall, not only of the Northern Kingdom of Israel but also the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Now they shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; for he has withdrawn himself from them ( Hsa Hos 5:7 ).
Though they tried to return to God with a lot of sacrifices and all, God said, “I’ve withdrawn from them. They won’t find me.”
They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions. Blow the cornet in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin. For Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be ( Hsa Hos 5:7-9 ).
So God declares that, “I declare to you what’s gonna surely come to pass.”
The princes of Judah like them that remove the boundaries: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water ( Hsa Hos 5:10 ).
Now, when the Northern Kingdom was going to fall, Judah, rather than mourning over the fact that the Northern Kingdom had fallen, looked upon it eagerly as an opportunity to expand its boundaries. Inasmuch as Assyria is attacking from the north and all, if Israel falls to Assyria then Judah was looking at it as an opportunity to expand its borders. And so the Lord rebukes them for this attitude. Rather than mourning and lamenting over the fact that the Northern Kingdom had fallen, they were eager for the opportunity to expand their borders.
therefore [the Lord declares] I will also pour out my wrath upon them like water. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because they willingly walked after the commandment. Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, [that is, eating it] and unto the house of Judah as rottenness. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early ( Hsa Hos 5:10-15 ).
Now, the Lord is here speaking of how that they turn to the arm of flesh for help. In the time of their calamity, rather than really turning to God, they turn to the Assyrians and looking for the arm of flesh to help them. On the way out this evening, I was talking with my son in-laws; we were riding together in the car. And I was remarking to him as we were talking about the book of Acts and the work of the Holy Spirit in the early church, I was remarking how tragic it is that the church has sought to substitute the wisdom of man for the work of the Holy Spirit. For the day that we felt that we no longer needed that dynamic work of the Spirit to guide and to direct the affairs of the church, and having gone to seminary and gotten our degrees we feel that we now have the capacity, we have the understanding. After all, don’t we have a minor in sociology and don’t we understand human behavior and don’t we know how to manipulate people? And the church has trusted in the wisdom and the abilities of man rather than in the work and in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that is why the church is so weak today.
Looking to the arm of flesh, looking to the abilities of the flesh to do the work of the Spirit. This was the sin of Ephraim. Looking to the arm of flesh, looking to Assyria for help when ultimately Assyria would be the rod that God would use to punish Ephraim. Now, in verse Hos 5:15 the Lord said that He was going to go and return to His place. You’re not gonna find me, I’m just gonna leave them until they acknowledge their offense. Until they actually acknowledge, “We are wrong. We have turned our backs against God. We have broken the covenant of God. We’ve transgressed His law.” God said, “I’m not… I’m just gonna return to My place until they come to this acknowledgment and they begin to seek My face. In their affliction they will seek Me early.” Talking really of the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble, when they will be afflicted they will then seek the Lord. “In their affliction they will seek Me early.”
Now it is extremely unfortunate that they placed the chapter break here. They should have place the chapter break maybe at the end of verse Hos 5:3 . And chapter 6 probably should have started there, because we have in our minds that crazy tendency when we come to a chapter to say, “Well, that’s the end of that chapter, now we’ve got a whole new thought or something.” But it’s carried right on through.
God has said, “I’m going to return and turn to My place, till they acknowledge their offense, they seek My face, and in their affliction they seek Me early.”
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Hos 5:1-7
ISRAELS INGRATITUDE-
REBELLION AND TRANSGRESSION
TEXT: Hos 5:1-7
The leaders have enmeshed the people in a net of moral excesses and rebellion. The people are pleased to have it so and refuse to have God in their knowledge. Pride and hypocritical worship testifies that their destruction by God is inevitable.
Hos 5:1 HearH8085 ye this,H2063 O priests;H3548 and hearken,H7181 ye houseH1004 of Israel;H3478 and give ye ear,H238 O houseH1004 of the king;H4428 forH3588 judgmentH4941 is toward you, becauseH3588 ye have beenH1961 a snareH6341 on Mizpah,H4709 and a netH7568 spreadH6566 uponH5921 Tabor.H8396
Hos 5:1 HEAR THIS, O YE PRIESTS . . . AND . . . HOUSE OF THE KING . . . UNTO YOU PERTAINETH . . . JUDGMENT . . . When the light of truth begins to flicker and fade, invariably the social and religious leadership is at fault. Men who propose to lead others face an awesome responsibility toward truth and morality. They are charged not only with proclaiming the dogmas of truth but with practicing them! (cf. Jas 3:1 ff; Rom 2:1 ff). But not only this, both priest and king were charged with enforcing certain moral standards according to law, This, to certain degrees, is still the responsibility of civil government today. Since their responsibility is so great and their sin of trapping the populace in excess so heinous, the wrath of God is directed at these leaders first and foremost.
Zerr: Hos 5:1. Mizpah and Tabor were prominent places in Palestine, and the complaint of the Lord was that the priests had taken advantage of them to mislead the people of the congregation, It was expected that the priests would be teachers of the people (Lev 10:11; Deu 17:9; Mal 2:7). But instead of leading them aright, they laid snares for them and got them caught in the meshes of idolatry.
The king of Hoseas day was either Zechariah or Menahem; possibly both, since Hosea prophesied in both reigns. However, Hoseas reference to making a military alliance with Assyria (Hos 5:13) refers to Menahem (2Ki 15:19-20). Both of these were wicked kings. Mizpah (Ramah-Mizpah of Gilead) and Tabor are both wooded mountains representing east and west of the Jordan, respectively, thus typifying the whole populace of the nation of Israel. The fact that they were wooded hills makes them noted as places peculiarly adapted for bird-trapping.
Hos 5:2 And the revoltersH7846 are profoundH6009 to make slaughter,H7819 though IH589 have been a rebukerH4148 of them all.H3605
Hos 5:2 AND THE REVOLTERS ARE GONE DEEP IN MAKING SLAUGHTER . . . Ephraim (Israel) is deeply sunken in excesses. Delitzsch translates the phrase literally, they understand from the very foundation how to spread out transgressions. In other words, they have studied or gone to great lengths to learn how to become more indulgent, more lascivious, (cf. Isa 31:6). God rebuked them time and time again, through His law, through the prophets, through natural catastrophes, but their revolt was deeply embedded in their hearts, and they were deeply sunken in the mire of their immoralities. There is nothing left now for God to do but to give them up to total destruction and ruin.
Zerr: Hos 5:2. A revolter is one who resists authority, and the leaders of Israel had done that very thing. In pursuing their abominable practices they did not shrink from murder when their plots called for that crime.
Hos 5:3 IH589 knowH3045 Ephraim,H669 and IsraelH3478 is notH3808 hidH3582 fromH4480 me: forH3588 now,H6258 O Ephraim,H669 thou committest whoredom,H2181 and IsraelH3478 is defiled.H2930
Hos 5:3 I KNOW EPHRAIM . . . THOU HAST PLAYED THE HARLOT . . . God was all too well aware of the unfaithfulness of Israel. His heart was broken; their rottenness sickened Him. Be sure your sin will find you out (Num 32:23)!
Zerr: Hos 5:3. Ephraim, and Israel are named separately as if they were not the same people. The former has specific reference to one of the tribes, but the capital of the 10-tribe kingdom was located in his possessions, hence Ephraim is often used as a name for the kingdom. In the matter of guilt, since the capital was in that possession, it is understandable that much of the evil influence would issue from it.
Hos 5:4 They will notH3808 frameH5414 their doingsH4611 to turnH7725 untoH413 their God:H430 forH3588 the spiritH7307 of whoredomsH2183 is in the midstH7130 of them, and they have notH3808 knownH3045 the LORD.H3068
Hos 5:4 THEIR DOINGS WILL NOT SUFFER THEM TO TURN UNTO THEIR GOD . . . What they were doing took possession of them. When a man yields the mind and the members of his body to sin, he becomes a slave to that to which he has yielded (cf. Rom 6:12-23). When one allows himself to be enslaved to falsehood and immoral deeds he at the same time, permits himself to be blinded to truth and goodness. Men love darkness because their deeds are evil (Joh 3:18-21) and they refuse to come to the light of truth lest their evil deeds be exposed for what they really are-vain, useless, degrading, etc. It was the same spirit of harlotry that possessed them as is referred to in Hos 4:12 (see our comments there).
Zerr: Hos 5:4. Frame their doings indicates the planning for the activities, including the teaching that would affect others. These leaders would not plan to turn unto the Lord themselves, nor to lead the people back to Him from their life of unfaithfulness. Spirit of whoredom. This Indicates that they not only had given way to a sinful life, but their controlling principle of life was one of harlotry, to such an extent that they had forgotten the Lord,
Hos 5:5 And the prideH1347 of IsraelH3478 doth testifyH6030 to his face:H6440 therefore shall IsraelH3478 and EphraimH669 fallH3782 in their iniquity;H5771 JudahH3063 alsoH1571 shall fallH3782 withH5973 them.
Hos 5:5 AND THE PRIDE OF ISRAEL DOTH TESTIFY TO HIS FACE . . . K & D interpret the pride of Israel as the glory of Israel-Jehovah God. Thus they make God testify to the face of Israel. Lange and Pussey both interpret the phrase simply-Israels arrogant pride. We prefer the last for it seems to suit the context better. Israel is like those of whom Paul wrote, claiming to be wise, they became fools . . . they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened . . . haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil . . . (cf. Rom 1:18 ff). Pride goeth before a fall. Pride was the very snare of the devil (1Ti 3:6-7). Amo 6:8 shows how the excellency (pride) of Jacob was the cause of her sin and how abhorrent such pride was to God. Remember that God told Edom the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, (Obadiah Hos 5:3). So, Israel, will soon know how foolish her pride and haughtiness was. Soon Israels insolence will be changed to shame and regret when Gods wrath is poured out. Then will her pride testify to her face that all her arrogance was futile, vain and shameful.
Zerr: Hos 5:5. Pride . . . testify . . . face. The folly of Israel in being influenced by the dominating pride is in evidence as the prophet writes Ills message. Israel and Ephraim are referring to the same people virtually; see comments at verse 3 (Hos 5:3). With prophetic eyes the prophet beholds the future of Judah, although at, present the main complaint of the Lord is against Israel. Many of the complaints and predictions being made were true of both divisions of the Jewish people, Israel and Judah.
Judah, too, will be brought to the same shame. Hosea warned Judah (Hos 4:15) not to take part in Ephraims idolatry. Evidently Judah did not heed the warning and became a partaker in Israels guilt (cf. Jer 3:6-11).
The Russian communist Zinonieff boasted: We shall grapple with the Lord God. In due time we shall vanquish him from the highest Heaven, and where he seeks refuge, we shall subdue him forever. What arrogance, what insolence! American theologians, however, have gone him one better! They have declared God is dead; they have held requiem chorales in honor of his death! This, if anything, is worse than insolence! How longsuffering the mercy of the Omnipotent God! It is a marvel of love and grace that He has not consumed such proud and boastful men with fire as He did of old.
Hos 5:6 They shall goH1980 with their flocksH6629 and with their herdsH1241 to seekH1245 (H853) the LORD;H3068 but they shall notH3808 findH4672 him; he hath withdrawnH2502 himself fromH4480 them.
Hos 5:6 THEY SHALL GO WITH THEIR FLOCKS . . . TO SEEK JEHOVAH; BUT THEY SHALL NOT FIND HIM . . . These hypocrites, when disaster seems ready to strike, will bring thousands of lambs to the places of sacrifices, and gallons of oil (cf. Mic 6:6-8), but they will have left off the weighter matters of the law, mercy, righteousness and justice. Their sacrifices will not be offered with penitent hearts, or in faith. Their worship will be ritualistic, from hearts sunken deep in sin, wishing only to be saved in their sins, not saved from their sins. God will not honor such worship for the simple reason such worship does not honor Him, He will not hear their prayers for the simple reason such prayers are not directed to Him. Isaiah had a great deal to say about such sham worship (cf. Isa 1:10-20). It is not the trampling of the courts of God that counts with Him so much as willingness and obedience (Isa 1:19). These were a people who honored God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him (cf. Isa 29:13-16; Mat 15:1-20).
Zerr: Hos 5:6. The thought intended by this verse may be realized some better by making it read, “Although they go with their flocks etc,, they shall not find him. The Lord had called for these articles of service by the law, therefore it might seem strange to have Him withdraw so that the people could not find him. This apparent contradiction is explained in a comprehensive note at Isa 1:10.
Hos 5:7 They have dealt treacherouslyH898 against the LORD:H3068 forH3588 they have begottenH3205 strangeH2114 children:H1121 nowH6258 shall a monthH2320 devourH398 them withH854 their portions.H2506
Hos 5:7 THEY HAVE DEALT TREACHEROUSLY AGAINST JEHOVAH . . . The word translated treacherously is bagad which means to act faithlessly and is frequently applied to the infidelity of a wife towards her husband. We are not surprised that Hosea would use such a word. Gomer acted treacherously toward Hosea when she deserted him for her paramours. Israel acted like that toward her husband, God, when she went off after her idols. Such idolatry, from the very beginning of the nation under Jeroboam, has produced generation after generation of strange children (idolaters).
Zerr: Hos 5:7. The treachery of which they were guilty consisted in mingling their blood with the people of other nations. The Lord wished to maintain a pure blood down through the ages, and to do so It was necessary for His people to marry within the Jewish families. The children born of these un-lawful unions were considered strange because that word means “outside. Month is used indefinitely, meaning their ruin would be accomplished in a short time after it began.
Israel should have produced generation after generation of children worshipping the Lord God in spirit and truth. Quite to the contrary, however, each generation became more idolatrous and immoral than the next, They retained just enough of the Mosaic forms of worship to ease their hypocritical hearts and salve their conscience. But, says God, your hypocritical worship is not going to save you-no, it is going to bring about your destruction. This is the meaning of the phrase, now shall the new moon devour them . . .
Questions
1. Why do those who propose to be leaders of Gods people face an awesome task?
2. How deeply were the people involved in their sin?
3. Why were these Israelites not able to turn to God?
4. Why is pride dangerous? How does it bring men to shame?
5. Why would Israels sacrifices not be noticed by God?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Having thus declared the cause of pollution, the prophet’s next message was especially addressed to priest, people, and king. First to the priests and the king as elders, and consequently responsible, but to the people also as having been guilty of following the false lead. The message af firmed the divine knowledge of the condition of affairs. Ephraim had committed whoredom; Israel was defiled. Thus the outward doings and the inward condition were recognized. The inevitable judgment was announced.
Ephraim and Israel would stumble, Judah also. There would be a fruitless search after God when it was too late. The prophet then dealt more particularly with the judgment, and indicated a threefold method. The first would be by the moth and rottenness. These were already at work. They were the emblems of slow destruction.
Ephraim, conscious of their presence, had turned to Assyria for help. The second would be by the young lion, suggestive of the new character of strong, devouring judgment determined against the sinning people. The final method of judgment would be the most terrible of all-the withdrawal of God from His people, out of which afEliction the prophet declared they would seek His face.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Gods Rebuke of Apostasy
Hos 5:1-15
The prophet continues his grave indictment of his people. The court and the priesthood were chiefly responsible for the awful degeneracy that was eating out the national heart. The seductions of idolatry that abounded everywhere resembled the snares and nets set by hunters on the wooded heights of Gilead and Tabor.
Suddenly, within a month, Hos 5:7, an alarm sounds from hill to hill. The foreign invader has entered the country and is slowly marching southward. Even Benjamin is threatened. Ephraim must suffer because of the institutions of Omri and Ahab, Hos 5:11; and Judah, because her princes were grasping and fraudulent. Though message after message was sent to procure the help of Jareb-a symbolical name for Assyria, the warlike, he would not be able to avert the approaching dissolution of the Jewish state. You cannot stop the dry-rot by grand alliances. Nothing can save a nation in whose heart the worst forms of corruption are being nourished, except a wholesale return of God and a seeking of His face. It is certain that if this lesson were profoundly learned and then practiced, the horrors of a world in arms would come to a speedy and a blessed end.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 5
I Will Hide Myself
This chapter is replete with searching ministry for the consciences of the people of God in all ages, which we of the present latitudinarian times will do well to lay to heart. It may be part of a single discourse of which the previous chapter is the introduction, and the balance of the book the remainder; or the various sections may have been penned at different intervals, as the prophet was led of God to write them. In either case the moral value is the same, and the object is one throughout, namely, to bring the backslidden people into the presence of God, that they may be restored in soul, and taste the sweets of companionship and communion with the Everlasting One.
Priests, people, and the royal house, are all alike addressed in ver. 1, and told that judgment is toward them. It had not yet come; but it was as an angel of wrath with drawn sword facing their way, and naught but repentance could cause that sword to be sheathed.
In vain they had been rebuked by Him to whose eyes all things are naked and open. Their iniquity was ever before Him; but though He had sought their recovery so long, they persistently refused to frame their doings to turn unto their God. A malignant demon, the spirit of whoredoms, seemed to possess them, and they knew not the Lord (vers. 1-4).
Nor was this the worst. Despite their wretched condition, they were puffed up with haughtiness. The pride of Israel doth testify to his face. Because of this they must be brought low. Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them (ver. 5). Failing to learn by the sin of her sister,. Judah had followed in the same path, and she too must be cast out of the land under the judgment of God.
The sentence of Lo-Ammi, referred to in the first chapter, cannot be turned aside. Even though there seem to be a desire after God, they shall not find Him; for they had hated knowledge and despised all His reproof.
When people refuse light, the light is withdrawn, and they are given up to judicial darkness. So here we read: They shall go with their flocks and with their herds [for sacrifice] to seek the Lord; but they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself from them (ver. 6). Thus should be fulfilled the word spoken through Moses long years before: I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith (Deu 32:20).
Observe, God would not forget them, nor should they be finally cast out of His presence; but He would withdraw Himself from them, leaving them to spiritual famine and desolation till they realized their true condition, and owned it before Him.
In the present dispensation of grace we are not without instances of similar dealing. It was thus the Lord acted in the case of the Gadarenes. Finding them bent upon going their own way, He left them for a time, but was welcomed by them on His return. And indeed this incident pictures to us His rejection when He came at first, but points too to the day when He shall return in glory, and shall be welcomed by the cry, Blessed is He who comes in the name of Jehovah! All this is in full accord with Hoseas prophecy.
Till repentance ensues, He will not publicly manifest Himself on their behalf. They may go on in their pride, begetting strange children and boasting of progress and enlargement, but all is hollow and empty, for the Judge is at the door (ver. 7).
From vers. 8 to 14 the prophet seems to have the invading army in sight. The day of rebuke is almost upon Israel. In vain they blow the trumpet and seek to defend themselves. In vain they attempt an alliance with Assyria. It is but leaning on a broken reed. God has become as an enemy, and He it is with whom they have to do. To both Ephraim and Judah He will be as a destroying lion, from whose power none shall deliver them.
But, be it noted, in all this He is seeking their blessing still. So He says, I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early (ver. 15).
How clearly is the Spirit of Christ here discerned to be speaking in the prophet. The same conditions prevailed when the Lord Jesus presented Himself that were characteristic of Hoseas day. True, idolatry was done away; but pride, arrogancy and self-will abounded on every hand. Consequently, He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. Therefore He had to say, I will go and return to My place. If they had no room for Him here, the Father had a seat for Him on His throne. So He left their house desolate, and has gone up on high, where He waits till they acknowledge their offence. The great tribulation–the time of Jacobs trouble-will result in a remnant seeking His face in contrition of heart. Then He will no longer hide Himself, but shall appear as their Deliverer in manifested glory.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Hos 5:13; Hos 6:2
So Ephraim and Judah went to the wrong person, and did not gain much by their application. The same fatal error is being perpetrated by multitudes amongst us still. The error is as ancient as Cain, and as modern as today.
I. It is pretty plain that Israel could not choose to be independent. They had not the forces at their control to enable them to defy all comers. Either the nation must lean on its God, or else it must lean on some arm of flesh, and king Jareb seemed as eligible a helper as anyone else. And neither can we be independent. Our nature is so constituted, and our conditions of existence are so ordered, that we must needs look beyond ourselves for solace and support amidst the strange and trying vicissitudes of life.
II. It would have been no true kindness on God’s part if He had granted the Israelites prosperity when they were apostate from Him. This must have led them to feel the more satisfied with their apostasy, and the less disposed to repent. And it is no less His love to us that makes Him deal with us in a similar manner. He has to thwart us just that He may show us how little king Jareb can do for us.
III. When we draw near to God, we find a good Physician binding up our wounds. Listen to these wondrous words, and see foreshadowed in them all the glories of the Resurrection. “After two days will He revive us… and we shall live in His sight.” The life hitherto cut off from us can once again flow into us; after two days in the sepulchre-two days of self-despair and sitting in darkness and the shadow of death-He revives us, and we begin to live in His sight.
W. Hay Aitken, Mission Pulpit, No. 77.
Hos 5:15
I. We often feel as if God were gone away from us. May it not be that there is just that difference-just that distinct boundary-line between absence and presence, “till they shall acknowledge their sin.”
II. Consider how confession is to be made. (1) Confess to God. Let it be done with the deepest and most careful humiliation. (2) Let your confession to God particularize. Mention all the little things. Make them stand out in bold relief. It is the sum of confession. (3) When you confess sin, always do it as one who is accepting punishment. (4) At the same moment realize and do not doubt that you are laying your sin upon the true altar, the Lord Jesus Christ. (5) Try to embody that confession, and give it all the force and substance you can, by some holy act, some self-denying labour of love, some gift to God, some special act of devotion.
III. True confession to God will always be accompanied with, and will always produce, the wish to make some confession to man. To confess to man is generally a far harder thing than to confess to God-partly because it brings more immediate shame and loss, and partly because men are so much severer in their judgments than God. But, to a certain extent, it must be done. The confession to God will bring with it a grace which will enable us, and make it afterwards easier, to go and confess to man.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 6th series, p. 14.
References: Hos 5:15.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1483; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 208; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, Part II., p. 289. Hosea 5.-Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 222.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 5:1-6:3
The Message to the Priests, the People,
and the Royal House Judgment,
Affliction and the Future Return
1. The message of rebuke (Hos 5:1-7)
2. The judgment announced (Hos 5:8-15)
3. The future return and the blessing (Hos 6:1-3)
Hos 5:1-7. The first verse shows who is addressed: the priests, the house of Israel and the house of the King. Judgment was in store for them, for Mizpah and Tabor, the places of hallowed memory, had been turned by their idolatrous worship into a snare. An old and interesting tradition among the Jews states that at Mizpah the apostates waited for those Israelites who went up to Jerusalem to worship there, to murder them. The next verse seems to indicate something like this tradition.
And the apostates make slaughter deep; but I am a chastisement to them all. (We give the passage we quote in a better and more literal rendering. The Authorized Version is frequently incorrect.) (See also Hos 6:9.) And the Lord saw it all. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me. He knew the whoredoms of Ephraim and the defilement of Israel. Their evil deeds kept them from returning to their God, for the demon of whoredoms had taken complete possession of them and it kept them in sin and rebellion. Pride was the leading sin of Ephraim, it was to testify against them and both Israel and Ephraim would stumble on account of their guilt and Judah would share the same fate. And though they go with their flocks of sheep and their herds, willing and ready to sacrifice, they shall not be able to find Him, for He hath withdrawn Himself.
Hos 5:8-15. Then follows a vision of judgment. The judgment is seen as having already fallen upon the guilty nation. The horn (Shophar) is blown in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah; the alarm is sounded. Gibeah and Ramah were situated on the northern boundary of Benjamin. The enemy was behind Benjamin pursuing. There will be no remedy and no escape (verse 9). The princes of Judah have become, like the removers of landmarks: I will pour out upon them my wrath like water (Hos 5:10). A curse is pronounced in the law upon those who remove the landmarks Deu 27:17. Judah instead of taking warning from the disaster coming upon the northern kingdom, the ten tribes, sought gain by an enlargement of their own border. The princes of Judah, instead of weeping over the calamity, rejoiced at the removal of Israel as the means of removing the boundary line and increase their estate. Wrath was in store for Judah. To Ephraim the Lord would be as a moth. To the house of Judah He would be as rottenness. The moth destroys. Both terms, moth and rottenness, are symbols of destroying influences working against the house of Israel and the house of Judah Isa 50:9; Isa 51:8; Psa 39:11; Job 13:28. Then they turned to the Assyrian for help and to King Jareb. But there was no help. Jareb is not a proper name, it is an epithet applied to the king of Assyria and means He will contend or He will plead the cause. Like a lion would be the Lord to Israel, and like a young lion to Judah. The same symbolical language is used in Isaiah in connection with the Assyrian, the rod of Gods anger Isa 10:1-34. Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it Isa 5:29. Thus judgment came upon them and they were carried away as a prey. And like the lion after his attack withdraws to his den, so the Lord would withdraw from them, leave them and return to His place, waiting till their repentance comes and they seek Him early in their affliction.
The last verse of this chapter has a wider meaning than the past judgment which came upon the house of Israel. The Lord of glory came to earth and visited His people. He came with the message and offer of the kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. After they had rejected Him, delivered Him into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified, He returned to His place. There He is now at the right hand of God, waiting for that day, when the remnant of Israel will repent and seek His face Act 3:19-26. That will be in their coming great affliction, in the time of Jacobs trouble.
Hos 6:1-3. The division of the chapter at this point is unfortunate. The three verses of chapter 6 must not be detached from the previous chapter. Here we have the future repentance of the remnant of Israel, that is during the great tribulation. Believingly they will acknowledge His righteous judgment and express their faith and hope in His mercy and the promised blessings and restoration. They express what their great prophet Moses so beautifully stated in His prophetic song, that great vision given to him, ere he went to the mountain to die. See now that I, even I, am He and there is no god with Me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand Deu 32:39. After two days will He revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight (literally, before His face). They have been dead spiritually and nationally, but when the two days of their blindness and dispersion are over, there is coming for them the third day of life and resurrection. Jewish expositors have pointed out the fact that a day is with the Lord as a thousand years. They state that they will be in dispersion for two days, that is, two thousand years, after which comes the third day of Israels glorious restoration. One Rabbinical commentator says: The first day we were without life in the Babylonian captivity, and the second day, which will also end, is the great captivity in which we are now, and the third day is the great day of our restoration. Like Jonah was given up by the fish on the third day, so comes for Israel a third day of life and glory. Then the latter and the former rain will fall upon their land again, and, blest by Him, their Saviour-King, they will live in His sight. But the passage, no doubt, also points to the resurrection of our Lord, the true Israel in a hidden way.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
O priests: Hos 4:1, Hos 4:6, Hos 4:7, Hos 6:9, Mal 1:6, Mal 2:1
O house: Hos 7:3-5, 1Ki 14:7-16, 1Ki 21:18-22, 2Ch 21:12-15, Jer 13:18, Jer 22:1-9, Amo 7:9, Mic 3:1, Mic 3:9
for: Hos 9:11-17, Hos 10:15, Hos 13:8
ye have: Hos 9:8, Mic 7:2, Hab 1:15-17
Tabor: Jdg 4:6, Jer 46:18
Reciprocal: Gen 31:49 – Mizpah Lev 21:1 – Speak Pro 29:5 – spreadeth Jer 7:2 – Hear Jer 17:20 – General Eze 44:12 – they ministered Hos 6:8 – polluted with blood Hos 7:1 – they commit Hos 9:15 – all Joe 1:2 – Hear Amo 3:1 – Hear Mar 15:11 – General Luk 10:31 – priest
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 5:1. Mizpah and Tabor were prominent places in Palestine, and the complaint of the Lord was that the priests had taken advantage of them to mislead the people of the congregation, It was expected that the priests would be teachers of the people (Lev 10:11; Deu 17:9; Ma- lachi 2:7). But instead of leading them aright, they laid snares for them and got them caught in the meshes of idolatry.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 5:1. Hear this, O ye priests Or rather, princes, as Dr. Waterland renders , a reading which agrees better with the house of the king that follows, and the word admitting of both significations. For judgment is toward you Or, denounced against you, as Archbishop Newcome renders it, a translation favoured by the LXX., ; by Houbigant, who reads, adest vobis judicium, judgment is at hand to you, or hangs over you. Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and upon Tabor Mizpah (a name derived from , to watch, namely, from an eminence) was a mountain, and probably a city too, of Gilead. Tabor was a beautiful and fruitful mountain in the tribe of Zebulun. These places being much frequented by hunters and fowlers, many snares and nets were laid in them to catch birds and beasts: and with an allusion to this the Israelites are here described as insnaring men on these places into idolatry, because many of the tribe of Judah had been seduced, or drawn into idolatry, by their bad example.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Hos 5:1. Ye have been a snareand a net spread upon Tabor. This was a high mountain of Galilee, in the lot of Zebulon, called by the Greeks Itabyricum, having a plain on the top. Idolatry has everywhere spread a net, and laid a snare for the people by music, drunkenness, and fornication.
Hos 5:11. Ephraimwillingly walked after the commandment. Later critics read, after vanity.
Hos 5:13. Sent to king Jareb, as in Hos 10:6. The LXX read Jareim. This name is not found in the list of the Assyrian kings, Genesis 11., but they often assumed new titles. Jareb might be a viceroy of the Assyrians. Others turn the word Jareb to designate protector, as is implied in their paying tribute to Assyria. See 2Ki 1:3.
Hos 5:15. I will return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face. This refers to the ascension of Christ, whom the heavens must receive till the times of the restitution of all things. Act 3:21. Our Lord told the jews in the temple, that they should not see him till they sung his joyful advent: Blessed is the king that cometh in the name of the Lord.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter opens with a bold address to the apostate priests, the first of sinners, and to the people, drawn aside, and to the king, who in a short time would have no kingdom. We see how much the sins of men may be aggravated by many circumstances attending them. Notice is here taken of the aggravation of the sins of Israel; they were the effect of contrivance and deliberation; they were very injurious to others, not only to those whom they murdered, but to those they enticed to idolatry. And their sins, with every circumstance attending them, were all known to God, and none of their profound contrivances were hid from him; this they well knew. They had dealt treacherously with the Lord, and violated the most sacred engagements. God had rebuked them for it again and again, by his judgments and by his prophets, and had solemnly declared what would surely be the consequence. Yet they went on in sin, and at the same time showed a great deal of pride in their privileges and blessings. Let us attend to these circumstances, as aggravations of sin; and be cautious, lest we incur the same heavy charge. We see what is the duty of impenitent sinners. It is the Lords work to convert sinners; without his grace all their attempts will be ineffectual. But something is to be done by them, and it is expected from them. They must frame their doings, consider their ways, and the consequences of their actions. It becomes them also to listen to the reproofs and exhortations which are given them, and make use of the means of reformation; then God will communicate his grace. But if they will not do this; if they expect his grace, or hope that by sacrifices or any religious services, they shall make their peace with him, it is a high affront to the Majesty of heaven, and he will withdraw himself from them.
See the importance of a steady opposition to all impositions upon liberty, and upon conscience. The Israelites willingly walked after idolatrous commandments, therefore God gave them up to their oppressors. Idolatry was the religion of the court, enforced by penal law; yet here the people are threatened and condemned for conforming to it. Those who subject their consciences to their rulers in religious matters, may justly be left to feel the weight of arbitrary government. When the boundaries of conscience and religion are removed, a deluge of misery breaks in. To stand firm in defence of religious liberty, is the most likely way to maintain and protect our civil rights.
Observe the design of God in afflictions, and to what purposes they should be improved. God corrects men that they may be humbled, acknowledge their offences, and seek him earnestly; that they may feel the burden of sin, as well as of affliction, and seek reconciliation with God. It is a sign of a slothful impious spirit, not to pray before afflictions come; but to be afflicted and not pray earnestly shows a stupid, senseless, incorrigible spirit. Let the afflicted stir up themselves to take hold of God; for they that seek him earnestly shall find him.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Hos 5:1-9. Priests and Rulers are Bringing the Nation to Ruin.Judgment is declared against (Hos 5:1 mg.)[9] the priests and ruling class because they have ensnared the people (by encouraging the mixed cultus) at the sanctuariesMizpah (in Gilead probably), Tabor and Shittim (Hos 5:2 corrected text) are mentioned as the scenes of such worship. A spirit of whoredom in the literal sense of the word (cf. Hos 4:12) animates them, and the brazen pride with which they pursue their evil course condemns them. When Israel and Judah fallas fall they mustthey will seek in vain to propitiate Yahweh with sacrifices from their flocks and herds; He has withdrawn Himself from a generation who are not His, but bastards (Hos 5:1-7). Suddenly the alarum of war is heard (Hos 5:8), Ephraims doom and desolation are certain (Hos 5:9).
[9] If RV text be right, the priests are referred to as those who administer justice (so Welch).
Hos 5:2 a. Join to end of Hos 5:1. Read, and the pit of Shittim have they made deep. It continues the metaphor of the snare and the net, they are trapped in the pit.rebuker: render, scourge.
Hos 5:3 b. Probably a gloss (cf. Hos 6:10).
Hos 5:5. Either (a) Israels vainglorious pride testifies openly against him and condemns him, or (b) Israels pride may be Yahweh; the former is preferable. Their overwhelming pride in the cultus is meant (cf. Hos 7:10). Marti omits the last clause.
Hos 5:7. strange children: a generation that has no real knowledge of Yahweh. The last clause may be explained: Any month may bring news of war; but the expression is strange. Marti emends, Now shall the destroyer devour them, and their fields shall be devastated.
Hos 5:8. Beth-aven: a satirical name for Bethel (cf. Amo 5:5).After thee, Benjamin (mg.): probably the ancient war-cry of the clan. Benjamin in the far south is alarmed, as well as the north.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
5:1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment [is] toward you, because ye have been a {a} snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
(a) The priests and princes caught the poor people in their snares, as the fowlers did the birds, in these two high mountains.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
A warning to the priests, people, and royal family of Israel 5:1-7
The target audience of this warning passage was originally the leaders as well as the ordinary citizens of Israel.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Hosea called on the Israelite priests, the whole population of Israel, and the royal household to hear this message from Yahweh (cf. Hos 4:1). The following word of judgment applied to all of them because they had been as a snare to birds in the Northern Kingdom. Their policies and practices had trapped many people in idolatry and its consequent bondage and destruction. There was an Israelite Mizpah in Gilead (Jdg 10:17; Jdg 11:29) and one in the territory of Benjamin (1Sa 7:5; 1Sa 10:1). Mt. Tabor stood in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. Probably these hunting sites represent the whole nation (by merism), from north to south or east to west. These may also have been the locations of important worship sites in the North. [Note: Ellison, p 116.] The point is that the leadership was corrupting the people everywhere.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
2. PRIESTS AND PRINCES FAIL
Hos 5:1-14
The line followed in this paragraph is almost parallel to that of chapter 4, running out to a prospect of invasion. But the charge is directed solely against the chiefs of the people, and the strictures of Hos 7:7 ff. upon the political folly of the rulers are anticipated.
“Hear this, O Priests, and hearken, House of Israel, and House of the King, give ear. For on you is the sentence!” You who have hitherto been the judges, this time shall be judged.
“A snare have ye become at Mizpeh, and a net spread out upon Tabor, and a pit have they made deep upon Shittim; but I shall be the scourge of them all. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me-for now hast thou played the harlot, Ephraim, Israel is defiled.” The worship on the high places, whether nominally of Jehovah or not, was sheer service of Baalim. It was in the interest both of the priesthood and of the rulers to multiply these sanctuaries, but they were only traps for the people. “Their deeds will not let them return to their God; for a harlot spirit is in their midst, and Jehovah,” for all their oaths by Him, “they have not known. But the pride of Israel shall testify to his face; and Israel and Ephraim shall stumble by their guilt-stumble also shall Judah with them.” By Israels pride many understand God. But the term is used too opprobriously by Amos to allow us to agree to this. The phrase must mean that Israels arrogance, or her proud prosperity, by the wounds which it feels in this time of national decay, shall itself testify against the people-a profound ethical symptom to which we shall return when treating of Repentance. Yet the verse may be rendered in harmony with the context: “the pride of Israel shall be humbled to his face. With their sheep and their cattle they go about to seek Jehovah, and shall not find” Him”; He hath drawn off from them. They have been unfaithful to Jehovah, for they have begotten strange children.” A generation has grown up who are not His. “Now may a month devour them with their portions!” Any month may bring the swift invader. Hark! the alarum of war! How it reaches to the back of the land!
“Blow the trumpet in Gibeah the clarion in Ramah
Raise the slogan, Beth-Aven: After thee Benjamin!”
“Ephraim shall become desolation in the day of rebuke! Among the tribes of Israel I have made known what is certain!”
At this point (Hos 5:10) the discourse swerves from the religious to the political leaders of Israel; but as the princes were included with the priests in the exordium (Hos 5:1), we can hardly count this a new oracle.
“The princes of Judah are like landmark-re-movers”-commonest cheats in Israel-“upon them will I pour out My wrath like water. Ephraim is oppressed, crushed is his right, for he willfully went after vanity. And I am as the moth to Ephraim, and as rottenness to the house of Judah.” Both kingdoms have begun to fall to pieces, for by this time Uzziah of Judah also is dead, and the weak politicians are in charge whom Isaiah satirized. “And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sore; and Ephraim went to Asshur and sent to King Jareb-King Combative, King Pick-Quarrel,” a nickname for the Assyrian monarch. The verse probably refers to the tribute which Mena-hem sent to Assyria in 738. If so, then Israel has drifted full five years into her “thick night.” “But he cannot heal you, nor dry up your sore. For I, Myself, am like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, I rend and go My way; I carry off and there is none to deliver.” It is the same truth which Isaiah expressed with even greater grimness. God Himself is His peoples sore; and not all their statecraft nor alliances may heal what He inflicts. Priests and Princes, then, have alike failed. A greater failure is to follow.