Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 10:9
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.
9. thou hast sinned ] The prophet’s language is correct from his own point of view. True, Israel as a people took summary vengeance on the Benjamites for the outrage of Gibeah. But the seed of wickedness remained, and developed into evil practices worthy only of the Gibeah of old.
there they stood did not overtake them ] The passage is open to various interpretations, but the easiest is as follows, there they stood that the war against the sons of unrighteousness might not overtake them at Gibeah. It is a historic retrospect, with an implied application to the present. Just as the Benjamites offered a stubborn resistance to the onset of the rest of Israel at Gibeah, so the Israelites now persist in their old iniquities, and defy Jehovah to put them down.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 15. A fresh demonstration of Israel’s guiltiness. The prevalent depravity is comparable only to that of the men of Gibeah (see on Hos 9:9). ‘The times are out of joint’; all Israel’s doings are against nature, and the retribution must be equally exceptional.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah – There must have been great sin, on both sides, of Israel as well as Benjamin, when Israel punished the atrocity of Gibeah, since God caused Israel so to be smitten before Benjamin. Such sin had continued ever since, so that, although God, in His longsuffering, had hitherto spared them, it was not of late only that they had deserved those judgments, although now at last only, God inflicted them. There in Gibeah, they stood. Although smitten twice at Gibeah, and heavily chastened, there they were avengers of the sacredness of Gods law, and, in the end, they stood; chastened but not killed. But now, none of the ten tribes took the side of God. Neither zeal for God, nor the greatness of the guilt, nor fear of judgment, nor the peril of utter ruin, induced any to set themselves against sin so great. The sin devised by one, diffused among the many, was burnt and branded into them, so that they never parted with it. : The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them, i. e., it did not overtake them then, but it shall overtake them now. Or if we render, (as is more probable,) shall not overtake them, it will mean, not a battle like that in Gibeah, terrible as that was, shall now overtake them; but one far worse. For, although the tribe of Benjamin was then reduced to six hundred men, yet the tribe still survived and flourished again; now the kingdom of the ten tribes, and the name of Ephraim, should be utterly blotted out.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 10:9-11
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah.
Sin and punishment
The days of Gibeah recall the hideous story of lust and crime, which was the low-water mark of the lawless days of old. That crime had been avenged by merciless war. But its taint had lived on, and the Israel of Hoseas day stood, obstinately persistent, just where the Benjamites had been then, and set themselves in dogged resistance, as these had done, that the battle against the children of unrighteousness might not touch them. Stiff-necked setting ones self against Gods merciful fighting of evil lasts for a little while, but verse 10 tells how soon and easily it is annihilated. Gods desire brushes away all defences, and the obstinate sinners are like children, who are whipped when their father wills, struggle how they may. The instruments of chastisement are foreign armies, and the chastisement itself is described with a striking figure as binding them to their two transgressions; that is, the double sin which is the keynote of the chapter. Punishment is yoking men to their sins, and making them drag the burden like bullocks in harness. What sort of load are we getting together for ourselves? When we have to drag the consequences of our doings behind us, how shall we feel? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
It is in My desire that I should chastise them.
Divine chastisement
This is a graphic expression; the whole meaning of it does not appear in the English tongue. God does not willingly afflict the children of men: it is not the delight of Almightiness to crush. It is the vanity of considerable strength to tyrannise, but in proportion as strength becomes complete it pities, it spares the helpless, for it knows that by one uplifting of its arm and the down-bringing of the same it could crush every opponent. Imperfect strength is a despot; Almightiness is mercy. But now there is a stirring of the Divine emotions. God says, It will be better for these people to be afflicted; they have left themselves nothing now but depletion, and they must be brought to the very point of extermination . . . The Lord is very pitiful and kind, and His eyes are full of tears, and judgment is His strange work: but there have been times in the history of providence which could only be consistently and rationally construed by granting that even the Divine Father must be stirred to the desire to chastise and humble wicked men. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah] This is another reference to the horrible rape and murder of the Levite’s wife, Jdg 19:13-14.
There they stood] Only one tribe was nearly destroyed, viz., that of Benjamin. They were the criminals, the children of iniquity; the others were faultless, and stood only for the rights of justice and mercy.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
O Israel, thou hast sinned; you of the ten tribes with such consent have sinned, that you seem to do it as one man.
From the days of Gibeah; ever since the days, so we; but, as Rivet observes, it will bear a comparative thus, thou hast sinned above, or more than. The ten tribes were greater sinners than those Gibeonites; so the prophet compareth the sins of the present age and that past. See Jdg 19, where the story is set down at large. See also Hos 5:8, the place described.
There they stood; in that day and war some stood, who were a seed for raising up the tribe; so I refer this passage to the six hundred men who fled to the rock Rimmon.
The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them; that fatal battle did not reach them; but now Israel shall be more severely punished; for who escape the sword shall be carried captives, and they shall be no more a people or kingdom: or else thus; Israel hath sinned more than the Gibeonites, I will therefore punish them more than the Gibeonites; they stood once or twice, but Israel now shall be ever beaten and put to flight; in that war Israel had heart to rally, and after two defeats were victors in the third encounter, but it shall not be so now, a war shall overtake them now, not such to Israel as was that against the Gibeonites, for in that they had at last the better, but in this they shall be totally ruined.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Gibeah (Hos 9:9;Jdg 19:1-20). They aresingled out as a specimen of the whole nation.
there they stoodTheIsraelites have, as there and then, so ever since, persistedin their sin [CALVIN]. Or,better, “they stood their ground,” that is, did not perishthen [MAURER].
the battle . . . did notovertake themThough God spared you then, He will not do sonow; nay, the battle whereby God punished the Gibeonite “childrenof iniquity,” shall the more heavily visit you for yourcontinued impenitence. Though “they stood” then, it shallnot be so now. The change from “thou” to “they”marks God’s alienation from them; they are, by the use of the thirdperson, put to a greater distance from God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah,…. This has no respect, as the Targum, and others, to Gibeah of Saul, of which place he was, and the choosing him to be king; but to the affair of the Levite and his concubine at Gibeah in the days of the judges, and what followed upon it, Jud 19:1; suggesting, that the sins of Israel were not new ones; they were the same with what were committed formerly, as early as the history referred to, and had been continued ever since; the measure of which were now filling up: or, as Aben Ezra and Abarbinel interpret it, “thou hast sinned more than the days of Gibeah”; were guilty of more idolatry, inhumanity, and impurity, than in those times; and yet the grossest of sins, particularly unnatural lusts, were then committed:
there they stood; either the men of Gibeah continued in their sins, and did not repent of them; and stood in their own defence against the tribes of Israel, and the Benjamites stood also with them, and by them; and stood two battles, and were conquerors in them; and, though beaten in the third, were not wholly destroyed, as now the Israelites would be: or the tribes of Israel stood, and continued in, and connived at, the idolatry of the Levite; or rather stood sluggish and slothful, and were not eagar to fight with the Benjamites, who took part with the men of Gibeah; which were their sins, for which they were worsted in the two first battles, and in which the present Israelites imitated them:
the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them; the two first battles against the men of Gibeah and the Benjamites, who are the children of iniquity, the one the actors, and the other the abettors and patrons of it, did not succeed against them, but the Israelites were overcome; and the third battle, in which they got the day, did not overtake them so as utterly to cut them off; for six hundred persons made their escape; but, in the present case prophesied of, it is suggested, that as their sins were as great or greater than theirs, their ruin should be entire and complete: or the sense is, that they were backward to go to battle; they were not eager upon it; they did not at once espouse the cause of the Levite; they did not stir in it till he had done that unheard of thing, cutting his concubine into twelve pieces, and sending them to the twelve tribes of Israel; and then they were not overly anxious, but sought the Lord, as if it was a doubtful case; which backwardness was resented in their ill success at first; and the same slow disposition to punish vice had continued with them ever since; so Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After the threatening of punishment has thus been extended in Hos 10:8, even to the utter ruin of the kingdom, the prophet returns in Hos 10:9 to the earlier times, for the purpose of exhibiting in a new form and deeply rooted sinfulness of the people, and then, under cover of an appeal to them to return to righteousness, depicting still further the time of visitation, and (in Hos 10:14, Hos 10:15) predicting with still greater clearness the destruction of the kingdom and the overthrow of the monarchy. Hos 10:9. “Since the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: there have they remained: the war against the sons of wickedness did not overtake them at Gibeah. Hos 10:10. According to my desire shall I chastise them; and nations will be gathered together against them, to bind them to their two transgressions.” Just as in Hos 9:9, the days of Gibeah, i.e., the days when that ruthless crime was committed at Gibeah upon the concubine of the Levite, are mentioned as a time of deep corruption; so are those days described in the present passage as the commencement of Israel’s sin. For it is as obvious that is not to be understood in a comparative sense, as it is that the days of Gibeah are not to be taken as referring to the choice of Saul, who sprang from Gibeah, to be their king (Chald.). The following words, , which are very difficult, and have been variously explained, do not describe the conduct of Israel in those days; for, in the first place, the statement that the war did not overtake them is by no means in harmony with this, since the other tribes avenged that crime so severely that the tribe of Benjamin was almost exterminated; and secondly, the suffix attached to evidently refers to the same persons as that appended to ‘ in Hos 9:10, i.e., to the Israelites of the ten tribes, to which Hosea foretels the coming judgment. These are therefore the subject to , and consequently signifies to stand, to remain, to persevere (cf. Isa 47:12; Jer 32:14). There, in Gibeah, did they remain, that is to say, they persevered in the sin of Gibeah, without the war at Gibeah against the sinners overtaking them (the imperfect, in a subordinated clause, used to describe the necessary consequence; and transposed from mo , like in Deu 28:25 for ). The meaning is, that since the days of Gibeah the Israelites persist in the same sin as the Gibeahites; but whereas those sinners were punished and destroyed by the war, the ten tribes still live on in the same sin without having been destroyed by any similar war. Jehovah will now chastise them for it. , in my desire, equivalent to according to my wish – an anthropomorphic description of the severity of the chastisement. ‘ from (according to Ewald, 139, a), with the Vav of the apodosis. The chastisement will consist in the fact, that nations will be gathered together against Israel , lit., at their binding, i.e., when I shall bind them. The chethib cannot well be the plural of , because the plural is not used for the eyes; and the rendering, “before their two eyes,” in the sense of “without their being able to prevent it” (Ewald), yields the unheard-of conception of binding a person before his own eyes; and, moreover, the use of instead of the simple dual would still be left unexplained. We must therefore give the preference to the keri , and regard the chethib as another form, that may be accounted for from the transition of the verbs into , and as a contraction of , since cannot be shown to have either the meaning of “sorrow” (Chald., A. E.), or that of the severe labour of “tributary service.” And, moreover, neither of these meanings would give us a suitable thought; whilst the very same objection may be brought against the supposition that the doubleness of the work refers to Ephraim and Judah, which has been brought against the rendering “to bind to his furrows,” viz., that it would be non solum ineptum, sed locutionis monstrum. , “to their two transgression” to bind them: i.e., to place them in connection with the transgressions by the punishment, so that they will be obliged to drag them along like beasts of burden. By the two transgressions we are to understand neither the two golden calves at Bethel and Daniel (Hitzig), nor unfaithfulness towards Jehovah and devotedness to idols, after Jer 2:13 (Cyr., Theod.); but their apostasy from Jehovah and the royal house of David, in accordance with Hos 3:5, where it is distinctly stated that the ultimate conversion of the nation will consist in its seeking Jehovah and David their king.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Threatenings of Judgment. | B. C. 730. |
9 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. 10 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. 11 And Ephraim is as a 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. 12 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. 13 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. 14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. 15 So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
Here, I. They are put in mind of the sins of their fathers and predecessors, for which God would now reckon with them. It was told them (ch. ix. 9) that they had corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah, and here (v. 9), O Israel! thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah. Not only the wickedness that was committed in that age is revived in this, and reacted, a copy from that original, but the wickedness that was committed in that age has been continued in a constant series and succession through all the intervening ages down to this; so that the measure of iniquity had been long in filling; and still there had been made additions to it. Or, “Thou has sinned more than in the days of Gibeah” (so it may be read); “the sins of this age exceed those of the worst of former ages. The case was bad then, for there they stood; the criminals stood in their own defence, and the tribes of Israel, who undertook to chastise them for their wickedness, were at a stand, when both in the first and in the second battle the malefactors were the victors; and the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them till the third engagement, and then did not overtake them all, for 600 made their escape. But thy sin is worse than theirs, and therefore thou canst not expect but that the battle against the children of iniquity should overtake thee, and overcome thee.”
II. They have warning given them, fair warning, of the judgments of God that were coming upon them, v. 10. God had hitherto pitied and spared them. Though they had been very provoking, he had a mind to try whether they would be wrought upon by patience and forbearance; but now, “It is in my desire that I should chastise them; it is what I have a purpose of and will take pleasure in.” He will rejoice over them to do them hurt, Deut. xxviii. 63. Note, Because God does not desire the death and ruin of sinners, therefore he does desire their chastisement. And see what the chastisement it: The people shall be gathered against them, as all the other tribes were against Benjamin in the battle of Gibeah. One of the rabbin thus descants upon it: “Because they receive not chastisement from me by my prophets, who in my name rebuke them, I will chastise them by the hands of the people who shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows,” that is, when they shall think to fortify themselves, as it were, within a double entrenchment. Or, When I shall bind them for their two transgressions (so the margin reads it), meaning their corporal and spiritual whoredom, which they are so often charged with, or the two calves at Dan and Bethel, or those two great evils mentioned Jer. ii. 13. Or, When I shall bind them to their two furrows, that is, bring them into servitude to the Assyrians, who shall keep them under the yoke as oxen in the plough, who are bound to the two furrows up the field and down it, and dare not, for fear of the goad, stir a step out of them. The Chaldee says, Those that are gathered against them shall exercise dominion over them, in like manner as a pair of heifers are tied to their two furrows. Thus those that would not be God’s freemen shall be their enemies’ slaves, and shall be made to know the difference between God’s service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries, 2 Chron. xii. 8.
III. They are made to know that their unacquaintedness with sufferings and hardships should not excuse them from a very miserable captivity, v. 11. See how nice, and tender, and delicate, Ephraim is; he is as a heifer that is taught to tread out the corn, and loves that work, because, being not allowed to be muzzled, she has liberty to eat at pleasure, and the work itself was dry and easy, and both its own diversion and its own wages. “But,” says God, “I have a yoke to put upon her fair neck, fair as it is. I will make Ephraim to ride, that is, I will tame them, or cause them to be ridden by the Assyrians and other conquerors that shall rule them with rigour, as men do the beasts they ride upon (Ps. lxvi. 12); and Judah too shall be made to plough, and Jacob to break the clods,” that is, they shall be used hardly, but not so hardly as Ephraim. Note, It is just with God to make those know what hardships mean that indulge themselves too much in their own ease and pleasure. The learned Dr. Pocock inclines to another sense of these words, as intimating the tender gentle methods God took with this people, to bring them into obedience to his law, as a reason why they should return to that obedience; he had managed them as the husbandman does his cattle that he trains up for service. Ephraim being as a docile heifer, fit to be employed, God took hold of her fair neck, to accustom her to the hand, harnessed her, or put the yoke of his commandments upon her, gave his people Israel a law, that, being trained up in his institutions, they might not be tempted by the usages of the heathen; he had used all fair and likely means with them to keep them in their obedience, had set Judah to plough and Jacob to break the clods, had employed them in the observance of precepts proper for them; and yet they would not be retained in their obedience, but started aside.
IV. They are invited and encouraged to return to God by prayer, repentance, and reformation, Hos 10:12; Hos 10:13. See here,
1. The duties they are called to. They are God’s husbandry (1 Cor. iii. 9), and the duties are expressed in language borrowed from the husbandman’s calling. If they would not be brought into bondage by their oppressors, let them return to God’s service. (1.) Let them break up the fallow ground; let them cleanse their hearts from all corrupt affections and lusts, which are as weeds and thorns, and let them be humbled for their sins, and be of a broken and contrite spirit in the sense of them; let them be full of sorrow and shame at the remembrance of them, and prepare to receive the divine precepts, as the ground that is ploughed is to receive the seed, that it may take root. See Jer. iv. 3. (2.) Let them sow to themselves in righteousness; let them return to the practice of good works, according to the law of God, which is the rule of righteousness; let them abound in works of piety towards God, and of justice and charity towards one another, and herein let them sow to the Spirit, as the apostle speaks, Gal 6:7; Gal 6:8. Every action is seed sown. Let them sow in righteousness; let them sow what they should sow, do what they should do, and they themselves shall have the benefit of it. (3.) Let them seek the Lord; let them look up to him for his grace, and beg of him to bless the seed sown. The husbandman must plough and sow with an eye to God, asking of him rain in the season thereof.
2. The arguments used for the pressing of these duties. Consider, (1.) It is time to do it; it is high time. The husbandman sows in seed-time, and, if that time be far spent, he applies to the work with the more diligence. Note, Seeking the Lord is to be every day’s work, but there are some special occasions given by the providence and grace of God when it is, in a particular manner, time to seek him. (2.) If we do our part, God will do his. If we sow to ourselves in righteousness–if we be careful and diligent to do our duty, in a dependence upon his grace–he will shower down his grace upon us, will rain righteousness, the very thing that those need most who are to sow in righteousness; for by the grace of God we are what we are. Some apply it to Christ, who should come in the fulness of time, and for whose coming they must prepare themselves; he shall come as the Lord our righteousness, and shall rain righteousness upon us, that everlasting righteousness which he has brought in; he will grant us of it abundantly. It is foretold (Ps. lxxii. 6) that he shall come down like rain. (3.) If we sow in righteousness, we shall reap in mercy, which agrees with that promise, If we sow to the Spirit, we shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. We shall reap according to the measure of mercy (so the word is); it shall be a great reward, according to the riches of mercy, such a reward, not as becomes such mean creatures as we are to receive, but as becomes a God of infinite mercy to give, a reward, not of debt, but of grace. We reap not in merit, but in mercy. It is what is sown; God gives a body as it has pleased him. (4.) We have ploughed wickedness and reaped iniquity; and the time past of our life may suffice that we have done so, v. 13. “You have taken a great deal of pains in the service of sin, have laboured at it in the very fire; and will you grudge to bear the burden and heat of the day in God’s service and in doing that which will be for your own advantage? You have done much to damn your souls; will you not undo it again, and do something to save them?” (5.) We never got any thing in the service of sin. They have ploughed wickedness (that is, they have done the drudgery of sin), and they have reaped iniquity, that is, they have got all that is to be got by it; they have carried it on to the harvest, and what the better? It is all a cheat. They have eaten the fruit of lies, fruit that is but a lie, which looks fair, but is rotten within; the works of darkness are unfruitful works,Eph 5:11; Rom 6:21. Even the gains of sin yield the sinner no satisfaction. (6.) As our comforts, so our confidences, in the service of sin will certainly fail us: “Thou didst trust in thy ways, in the multitude of thy mighty men; thou has stayed thyself upon creatures, thy own power and policy, and therefore hast ventured to plough wickedness, and thy hopes have deceived thee; come therefore, and seek the Lord, and thy hope in him shall not deceive thee.”
V. They are threatened with utter destruction, both for their carnal practices and for their carnal confidences, Hos 10:14; Hos 10:15. Therefore, because thou has sown wickedness, and trusted in thy own way, a tumult shall arise among thy people, either by insurrections at home or invasions from abroad, either of which will put a kingdom into confusion and make a noise, much more both together. 1. Their cities and strongholds shall be a prey to the enemy: The fortresses which they confided in, and in which they had laid up their effects, shall be seized and rifled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle. This refers to some event that had lately happened, not elsewhere recorded; and probably Shalman is the same with Shalmaneser king of Assyria, who had lately put some town, or castle, or house (Beth-arbel is the house of Arbel), under military execution, which perhaps he used with severity in the beginning of his conquests, to terrify other garrisons into a speedy surrender at the first summons. God tells them that thus Samaria should be spoiled. 2. The inhabitants shall be put to the sword, as it was at Beth-arbel; when it was taken the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children, that is, they were both dashed in pieces together by the fury of the soldiers. See what cruel work war makes. Jusque datum sceleri–Wickedness has free course. It is strange that any of the human race could be so inhuman; but see what comes of sin. Homo homini lupus–Man is a wolf to man, and then, Homo homini agnus–Man is a lamb to man. 3. Even royal blood shall be mingled with common gore: In a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off, v. 15. Hoshea was the last king of Israel; in him the whole kingdom was cut off and came to a period; it may refer either to him or to some of his predecessors that were cut off by treachery. It shall be done in a morning, in a very little time, as suddenly as the dawning of the morning, or at the time appointed, for so the morning comes, punctually at its time. Or in the morning, when they think the night of calamity is over, and expect a returning day, then shall all their hopes be dashed by the sudden cutting off of their king, v. 7. Kings, though gods to us, are men to God, and shall die like men. And (lastly) what does all this desolation owe its rise to? What is the spring of this bloodshed? He tells us (v. 15): So shall Bethel do unto you. Bethel was the place where one of the calves was; Gilgal, where all their wickedness is said to have been, was hard by; there was their great wickedness, the evil of their evil (so the word is), the sum and quintessence of their sin; and that was it that did this to them, that made all this havoc, for that was it that provoked God to bring it upon them. He does not say, “So shall the king of Assyria do to you;” but, “So shall Bethel do to you.” Note, Whatever mischief is done to us it is sin that does it. Are the fortresses spoiled? Are the women and children murdered? Is the king cut off? It is sin that does all this. It is sin that ruins soul, body, estate, all. So shall Bethel do unto you. It is thy own wickedness that corrects thee and thy backslidings that reprove thee.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
He here reproaches Israel for having been long inured in their sins, and not for being lately corrupted. This is the substance. He had said in the last chapter that they were deep in their sins, as in the days of Gibeah: we then explained why the Prophet adduced the example of Gibeah, and that was, because the Gibeonites had fallen away from all fear of God, as if not a word about the law had ever been heard among them. We indeed know that they abandoned themselves to filthy and monstrous lusts, like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorra. Seeing, then, that so great obscenity prevailed openly and with impunity in Gibeah, rightly did the Prophet say that the Israelites were then lost and past hope, as the case was at that time. But now he regards another thing, even this, — that from that time they had not ceased to accumulate evils on evils, and thus to spin, as it were, a continuous rope of iniquity, as it is said in another place, — From the days then of Gibeah hast thou, Israeli sinned
But this seems an unjust charge; for we know that the whole people united together against the tribe of Benjamin. Since, then, the Israelites revenged that wickedness which was committed in the city of Gibeah, why does the Prophet bring against them the crime of which they had been the avengers? But we know that it often happens, that they who execute the vengeance of God are in no respect better; and we had a remarkable example of this at the beginning in Jehu; for he had been God’s minister in punishing superstitions; yet God calls him a robber, and compares the vengeance he executed to robbery; ‘I will avenge,’ he says, ‘on the head of Jehu the blood of the house of Ahab, which he has shed.’ And yet we know that he was armed with the sword of God. This is indeed true; but he acted not with a sincere and upright heart, for he afterwards followed the same example. So now the Prophet says, that the Israelites had sinned even from that time; as though he said, “The Lord by the hand of your fathers took vengeance on the Gibeonites and on the whole tribe of Benjamin: but they were wholly like them. This corruption has from that time overwhelmed, like a deluge, the whole land of Israel. There is then no reason for you to boast that you have been better, inasmuch as it afterwards fully appeared what you were, for you imitated the Gibeonites.” We now then understand the design of the Prophet, and how justly he brings this charge against the Israelites, that they had sinned from the days of Gibeah. They indeed thought that crime was confined to a small corner of the land; but the Prophet says that the whole land was covered with it, and that they all exposed themselves to God’s judgement, and deserved the same punishment with the Gibeonites and their brethren, the whole tribe of Benjamin. ‘Thou, Israel, hast then sinned from the days of Gibeah:’ the Israelites said, that the Benjamites alone sinned; but that sin, he says was common.
There they stood This clause is variously explained. Some think that the people are reproved for wishing to retreat after having twice fought without success. We hence see that their minds were soft and cowardly, since they so soon succumbed to their trial. They therefore think that this want of confidence is pointed out by the Prophet; ‘There they stood,’ he says, that is, retreated from the battle; for as they did not succeed as they wished, they thought that they had been deceived. Hence it is concluded, that they did not ascribe his just honour to God, and were on this account reprehensible. But others say, that God had then testified by a clear proof that the Israelites were equal in guilt to the Gibeonites; for how came it, they say, that when they engaged in battle, they were compelled twice to retreat? All Israel were armed against one tribe; how then was it that they did not immediately overcome? But the Benjamites, we know, were not at last conquered without a great loss. It is then certain that God plainly showed that the Israelites were unworthy of so honourable an office; for the Israelites wished to execute God’s judgement, when they were themselves equally wicked. The Lord then openly reminded them, that it was not for them to turn their zeal against others, when they were no less guilty themselves. It seems to others that their obstinacy is here pointed out: ‘There they stood;’ that is, from that time they have been perverse in their wickedness, and ‘the battle against the children of iniquity did not lay hold on them.’ This third exposition is what I mostly approve; that is, that the Israelites, when they became ungodly and wicked, though they professed great zeal and ardour against the tribe of Benjamin, did not yet cease from that time to conduct themselves perversely against God, so that they at last arrived at the highest pitch of impiety.
But what follows, The battle in Gibea against the children of iniquity did not lay hold on them, may also be variously explained. Some say, that the Israelites ought not to have defended themselves with this shield, that God had so severely punished the Gibeonites and their kindred. “The Lord spared you once, but what then? He has deferred his vengeance for a long time; but will he on that account deal more mildly with you now? Nay, a heavier vengeance awaits you; for from that time he has not forced repentance out of you.” But others read the sentence as a question, “Has the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity laid hold on you?” But the simple sense of the words seems to me to be this, that the battle had not laid hold on the Israelites, because they had not been touched by that example. The judgements of God, we know, are set forth before our eyes, that each of us may apply them for our own benefit. The Prophet now reproves the neglect of the Israelites in this matter, because they disregarded the event as a thing of no moment. Hence the battle did not lay hold on them; that is, they did not perceive that they were warned at the expense of others to repent, and to live afterwards a holier and purer life in subjection to God. And this view is confirmed by the last clause, “against the children of iniquity;” for why is this expressly added by the Prophet, except that the Lord testified that they should not be unpunished, who were like the Gibeonites, with whom he dealt so rigidly and severely. Since, then, the Israelites had not been touched, their stupidity was hence proved. And for the same reason Paul says, that the wrath of God shall come on the children of disobedience or of unbelief, (Eph 5:6 🙂 for when God takes vengeance on one people or on one man, he doubtless shows himself in that particular judgement to be the judge of the world. This seems to me to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet.
We ought further to bear in mind, that when men go on in their wickedness, whatever sins their fathers have done are justly imputed to them. When we return to the right way, the Lord instantly buries all our sins, and reconciles us to himself on this condition, that he will pardon whatever fault there may be in us: though we may, through our whole life, have provoked his wrath against us, he will yet as I have said, instantly bury the whole. But if we repent not, the Lord will remember, not only our own sins, but also those of our fathers, as it is evident from what is here said by the Prophet.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Hos. 10:9.] A return to earlier days to prove deeper guilt. Stood] As at the beginning, so now they stand, persisting in their sin. Others, though smitten in Gibeah, yet they avenged the sacred character of Gods law; but now none of the ten tribes took the side of God. The battle shall overtake and utterly destroy them.
Hos. 10:10. Desire] After the manner of men, God longs to punish in severity, to impress the mind. No longer joy over them (Deu. 28:63), but justice without mercy. Bind] Lit. at their binding, i.e. when God would bind them like oxen ploughing side by side. Two] transgressions. Forsaking God, and revolting against the house of David. The breach of both tables of Gods law, or as Jer. 2:13 [Pusey].
IMITATING THE SINS AND SUFFERING THE PUNISHMENT OF OTHERS.Hos. 10:9-10
In the days of Gibeah, grievous sins were committed and punished. But Israel had not heeded the warning. They had now no zeal for God, nor fear of judgment. They had sinned and continued to sin in imitation of former days. The terrible battle in Gibeah did not overtake some; now not a mere battle, but something far worse shall come upon them. Though God doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, yet he longs, has determined to punish, and will gather heathen nations against them in overwhelming numbers. Those who partake in other mens sins will suffer other mens punishment.
I. We commit other mens sins by patronizing their works. The sins of Gibeah, the calves of Jeroboam, were all upheld and patronized by high and low in Israel. Kings and priests not only consented, but contrived to make the people sin. The people approved and carried out the bidding of their superiors. All were guilty. We may be afraid to resist and reprove, but if we silently consent and support evil deeds, we are guilty of partaking in them. Saul did not stone Stephen, but consented, approved of his death, and accused himself of the deed (Act. 22:20). Neither be partaker of other mens sins.
II. We commit other mens sins by following their example. If you sin because another sins, you are guilty of your own act, and will share in the punishment of their sins. Bad examples are not landmarks to guide, but warnings to caution. Nothing forces you to walk in their steps, for then you would not be responsible and free. Examples draw men, and by imitating them they fall into habitual sin. The eye and the ear are inured. Many have fallen into habits of swearing, drinking, and scoffing by the practice of others. Young men indulge in filthy conversation, because incited by their evil companions. Infidelity is a repetition of the first lie, and imbibed by others from example. By imitating evil examples we establish and perpetuate national sins, influence national opinions and customs, and decide national destiny. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah.
III. We suffer the punishment by committing the sins of others. The people shall be gathered against them. Israel could not escape. By their idolatry they had bound themselves in slavery. The Assyrians, with their allies, would gather against them at Gods call. God had determined to punish, and appeared to take pleasure in so doing. In every age, in every Church, those who copy the example and emulate the crimes of antiquity will be bound by their own fetters and delivered into the hands of their enemies. If nations revive in this the sins of a former age, and commit them in succeeding ages, they will fill up the measure of their iniquity. The sins of fathers and predecessors will be visited upon their children.
1. This punishment is determined by God. It is my desire that I should chastise them.
2. This punishment will not be avoided by their own defence. They would unite their strength, fix themselves for defence like oxen yoked together in the plough. As the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos. 10:9. From the days, &c. I. Sin aggravated.
1. By continuance from age to age.
2. By neglect of Divine warning. (a) In preserving some, did not overtake, (b) in punishing others. Benjamin did not escape. Reduced to six hundred men. II. Sin ripened for punishment.
1. When imitated and propagated by posterity.
2. When provoking God to anger.
Conjunction of strength and forces to uphold sinful courses will not avail any nation against Gods wrath.
Hos. 10:10. God can bring in his armies at his pleasure, for all creatures are at his beck and check. He never need want a weapon to chastise his rebels. All creatures in heaven and earth will present their service. How ready are the Assyrians here to be the rod in his hand [Trapp].
O the venomous nature of sin that maketh the merciful God to desire and to delight in mens miseries; to take comfort in their punishments (Eze. 5:13; Eze. 5:15), to laugh at their destruction. And although he bear long with mens evil manners (Act. 13:18), yet he beareth them as a burden whereof he desireth to be eased (Isa. 1:24), as a servitude whereof he desireth to be freed [Trapp].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 10
Hos. 10:9-10. Example. For good or evil we act and influence men on earth. This influence will survive and affect others when we are gone. Oh that my influence could be gathered up and buried with me, cried a dying man. Men imitate and follow our example, and a bad example, a life of sin, are most pernicious to posterity. I have thought some of natures journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably [Shakespeare].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(9) O Israel . . . Gibeah.Thou didst commence thy obscene transgressions long before the disruption of the kingdom of Rehoboam, even at Gibeah. Gibeah is emblematic of gross and cruel sensuality, in allusion to Jdg. 19:20, just as Sodom is used for unnatural vice.
There they stood.Or rather, remained sinning after the same manner. The rest of the verse should be rendered, Shall there not overtake them in Gibeah (used mystically) the war made against the wicked? (Comp. Judges 20) But Dr. Pusey and others take it categorically, implying that though the exterminating war against the men of Gibeah did not overtake them, and has not yet, it shall now, and soon. But the former interpretation is to be preferred.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ISRAEL’S HISTORY ONE CONTINUOUS CRIME; ISRAEL’S DESTINY DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, Hos 10:9-15.
With Hos 10:9 the prophet begins a new presentation of Israel’s guilt. In the very beginning a great crime darkened their history (Hos 10:9); from that time on they have resisted every effort to lead them into a higher and purer life; hence death and destruction await them (Hos 10:9-11). The announcement of judgment is interrupted by an exhortation to repentance (Hos 10:12), which immediately changes again into a threat (Hos 10:13-15). Hos 10:9.
From the days of Gibeah The reference is to the outrage in Gibeah described in Judges 19-21 (compare Hos 9:9). Beth-baal-peor (Hos 9:10) marked the beginning of religious corruption; Gibeah was the scene of the first outbreak of deep moral corruption. Since then conditions had not changed materially. This interpretation is preferable to that implied in the marginal reading, “thou hast sinned more than in the days of Gibeah.” The latter part of Hos 10:9 is open to various interpretations. For the second clause, there they stood, the margin offers a more satisfactory translation “there have they continued.” For this meaning of the verb compare Jer 32:14; Isa 47:12.
There In Gibeah, or, rather, in the criminal conduct of Gibeah.
The battle In which judgment was executed upon the guilty tribe (Jdg 20:1 ff.). If 9b is rendered a declaratory sentence the verb must be reproduced by a past tense, “did not overtake them.” If so, the thought is that, while the criminals of Gibeah received their reward, just punishment has not yet been visited upon Israel. But, Hos 10:10 continues, the judgment cannot be withheld forever. 9b may be translated also as a question: “Shall not the battle overtake them?” that is, can these people, persisting in vice, believe that they will escape retribution? Hos 10:10 supplies the answer:
It is in my desire Better, R.V., “When it is my desire.” Jehovah does not overlook the crimes; when the proper moment arrives he will execute judgment.
The verses following show that the time of vengeance has arrived. The punishment will take the form of hostile invasions by Assyria (Hos 10:6), by Egypt (Hos 9:6).
When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows In the rendering of the last word the translators have followed the Targum. The Hebrew is uncertain; LXX. and Vulgate translate “iniquities”; so R.V., “when they are bound to their two transgressions.” The two transgressions are not the two calves at Beth-el and Dan, but the twofold sin indicated in Hos 8:4: the setting up of kings contrary to the divine will, and the religious apostasy expressing itself in reliance upon foreign nations and in the worship of the Baals. When they are bound is of uncertain meaning. Some interpret it as a causal clause because they are bound, inseparably devoted, to their transgressions; others, as a temporal clause when they are bound, or, when I bind them, in punishment for their transgressions. LXX. and Peshitto render “chastise,” which favors the second interpretation; and this is to be preferred unless the text is changed. By the alteration of one consonant the whole clause may be made to read, “In order to bind (chastise) them for their two transgressions.”
Hos 10:11 contains a new figurative description of the punishment to be meted out. Now Ephraim is in peace and prosperity, but soon suffering and distress will overtake him.
Taught Broken in to work.
Loveth to tread out the corn A pleasant and easy task, especially since the animals were allowed to eat freely of the grain (Deu 25:4). Some consider taught inappropriate here, because, they say, the breaking in to do heavy work is a part of the punishment; for this reason they either omit it, and read, “And Ephraim is a heifer that loveth to tread out the grain” but he will not be permitted to do this delightful work much longer or they add not; “a heifer that is not taught.” All he has done thus far is to tread out the grain, but in the future he will be subjected to severer treatment.
But I passed over upon her fair neck It is a disputed question whether this clause continues the description of the kind treatment I have spared the beauty of her neck that is, thus far the heifer has not been compelled to do any hard work; the rest of the verse would call attention to the change of treatment about to take place; or whether with it begins the threat: I placed the yoke upon her fair neck. If this interpretation, which seems preferable because it restores the parallelism, is accepted, the tense is to be understood as a prophetic perfect. The Hebrew permits either interpretation.
Make Ephraim to ride R.V., “set a rider on Ephraim.” An even more probable rendering is, “I will make Ephraim to draw,” that is, the plow or the cart. North and south alike will share in the punishment. Instead of treading out the grain they will be compelled to do the hard work of plowing and harrowing. Since nowhere in this connection is there any reference to Judah, it is probable that in the last part of Hos 10:11 Israel should be read instead of Judah.
‘O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah.
There they took a stand.
Did not the battle against the children of iniquity
Overtake them in Gibeah?’
What had happened at Gibeah (Judges 19-21) was written deep into the heart of Israel. There Israel, in the person of the tribe of Benjamin, had sinned deeply in a perverted sexual way. And YHWH now tells Israel that they have not changed one iota. They have continued to sin in the same way since the days of Gibeah. They are no better than the people whom YHWH destroyed there.
In Gibeah Benjamin had taken its stand, and was in fact routed, and subsequently almost destroyed. The children of iniquity were truly overtaken in Gibeah. But what YHWH is saying here is that that was not the end of the battle against perverted sexual sin, for there were still children of iniquity, and the battle against them still continued. Indeed it was being fought against Israel in Hosea’s day, and Israel too would be decimated in the same way for the same reason. It was as inevitable as what had happened at Gibeah.
Israel Are Warned That They Face Another Gibeah Because Although He Had Chosen Them As His Servant (Like A Trained Heifer) They Have Responded With Disobedience And Wickedness. A Final War Of Destruction Is Therefore Inevitable Unless They Repent Deeply And Seek His Face ( Hos 10:9-15 ).
The present Israel is likened to the Benjamites in the day of Gibeah (Judges 19-21) who committed gross sin and were almost totally destroyed. YHWH will therefore deal with them in accordance with His will, and call them to account for their behaviour through warfare. For although YHWH had trained them up to serve Him faithfully, they had instead chosen their own way and would therefore be brought into harness like an ox and sentenced to hard labour. Their one hope was to repent and submit to the covenant in righteousness and covenant love, and then to seek YHWH until He came to rain righteousness on them. But instead they were set in the way of wickedness, and would therefore suffer final destruction at the hands of an enemy.
Analysis of Hos 10:9-15 .
a b According to my desire I will chastise them, and the peoples will be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two transgressions (Hos 10:10).
c And Ephraim is a heifer which is trained, which loves to tread out the grain, but I have passed over (a harness) on her fair neck, I will set a rider on Ephraim, Judah will plough, Jacob will break his clods (Hos 10:11).
d Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to covenant love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek YHWH, until he come and rain righteousness on you (Hos 10:12).
c You have ploughed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men (Hos 10:13).
b Therefore will a tumult arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed. As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle, the mother was dashed in pieces with her children (Hos 10:14).
a So will Beth-el do to you because of your great wickedness, at daybreak will the king of Israel be utterly cut off (Hos 10:15).
Note that in ‘a’ Israel were punished for their wickedness at Gibeah, and in the parallel they are again now to be punished for their wickedness. In ‘b’ YHWH would chastise them by gathering the peoples together against them, and in the parallel the nations will come against them and ravage them. In ‘c’ Ephraim have been trained to thresh, Judah to plough and Jacob to break up the ground, and in the parallel they have done so falsely. Central in ‘d’ is the call to repentance and intercession in order that they might again enjoy the mercy of God.
The Kingdom Devastated
v. 9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah, v. 10. It is in My desire that I should chastise them, v. 11. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, v. 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, v. 13. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity, v. 14. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, v. 15. So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness, Hos 10:9. O Israel, thou hast sinned Even from the days of Gibeah, the sin of Israel flourisheth; from which if they had then abstained, they would not have provoked war in Gibeah, because of wicked men. Houbigant. The meaning, according to this translation, seems to be, that the Israelites, when they revenged the wickedness of Gibeah, would not have been twice overcome by the Benjamites, before they conquered, if they had not erected so many altars and statues. See Jdg 19:22; Jdg 19:30 and Houbigant. God gave the Israelites success in that righteous war. It may, however, seem strange, that it should be said that the “war overtook them not,” as if they had not suffered by it; when they were unsuccessful in the first two assaults, and were repulsed by the Benjaminites with a slaughter amounting, in the two days, to 40,000 men. Jdg 20:21; Jdg 20:25. But, besides that the confederated tribes were ultimately successful, this loss, in proportion to their whole embattled force, which consisted of 400,000 men (Hos 10:2.), was nothing in comparison with that of the tribe of Benjamin, which was all but cut off. For of their force, which was 26,700, no more than 1600 survived the business of the third day, in which the town of Gibeah was taken and destroyed. And of this remnant all seem to have been cut off afterwards, except the 600 men that fortified themselves upon the rock Rimmon; so that of the whole tribe not one forty-fourth part was left.
The reference here to the battle of Gibeah, seems to be that which is spoken of, Jdg 20 . But spiritually considered, to the Israel of God at large, the allusion is yet more striking. Here the charge is, from the first moment of Israel’s call, to the last of Israel as a Church. Under this view, how truly precious is Jesus?
Hos 10:9 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.
Ver. 9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah ] Or, prae diebus, worse than in the days of Gibeah. What those days were, see Hos 9:9 Jdg 19:15 : when they were is not so certain; but probably before the time of the Judges, and soon after Joshua’s death; for Jebus, or Jerusalem, was not yet taken, Jdg 19:11-12 cf. Hos 1:1 , and Phineas was yet alive and ministered before the Lord, Jdg 20:28 , and was one of those elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, which he did for Israel, Jdg 2:7 , so that these days of Gibeah were very ancient; and Israel’s sin the worse, because from those days; and yet more, because above or beyond those days. God made use of your forefathers to punish that great sin; and yet you continue to be more vile and vicious than they were, that were so punished by your forefathers; neither are ye at all warned by their harms: which is just both presage and desert of your downfall. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio. Exemplo alterius qui sapit, ille sapit.
There they stood sinned. Hebrew. chata. App-44.
from: or, beyond.
the days of Gibeah. See Hos 9:9 and Judges 19 and Judges 20. Note the Article.
there they stood. In battle array.
children = sons.
iniquity. Hebrew. ‘alvah. Occurs only here, from Hebrew. ‘avah. App-44.
did not overtake them. Supply the Ellipsis: [and shall ye escape? ].
from: Hos 9:9, Jdg 19:22-30, Jdg 20:5, Jdg 20:13, Jdg 20:14
the battle: Jdg 20:17-48
did: Gen 6:5, Gen 8:21, Zep 3:6, Zep 3:7, Mat 23:31, Mat 23:32
Reciprocal: Num 17:10 – rebels Jos 18:28 – Gibeath Jdg 19:25 – and abused Jdg 20:21 – the children Jdg 20:42 – the battle Isa 10:29 – Gibeah Isa 57:4 – are ye Hos 5:8 – Gibeah Eph 2:2 – the children 1Th 5:4 – overtake
Hos 10:9. Israel is used in the sense of a nation, and this institution had Saul for its first king. But he committed a grievous sin and set the example of disobedience for the generations following. Gibeah was an Important city connected with the public life of Saul, hence the reference to the place in connection with the evils carried on by the nation over which he was the first king.
Hos 10:9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah This is not the first of thy sinning, O Israel, for long ago there was the greatest corruption of manners, and the most flagrant wickedness in Gibeah; and thou hast continued to be wicked ever since that time: see Judges 19. Some render the words, Thou hast sinned more than in the days of Gibeah. Thou hast been guilty of more atrocious crimes than that committed in that place. There That is, upon that occasion, namely, the quarrel with the tribe of Benjamin, on account of the outrage of the men of Gibeah. They stood Israel stood there in array, prepared for the attack. This relates to the war which the rest of the Israelites made against the Benjamites, because they would not deliver up the men of Gibeah, who had so shamefully and cruelly abused the Levites concubine: see Judges 20. The battle in Gibeah, &c., did not overtake them By them here is meant not the children of iniquity, but the Israelites who warred against the Benjamites, because they would not deliver up these sinners; and the sense of the expression, the battle did not overtake them, is, that they were not overcome in this their attempt to inflict a just punishment on the perpetrators of a flagrant iniquity; for, though they were overcome in two battles, yet at last they gained an entire victory, and cut off all the Benjamites but six hundred: see notes on Judges 20.
Hos 10:9-15. Israel must Reap the Ruin he has Sown.From the days of Gibeah Israel has sinned, and never progressed since (Hos 10:9, but see notes); Yahweh comes to punish them, and gather the peoples against them (Hos 10:10). Israel like a well-broken-in heifer loves to thresh; but the harder tasks (ploughing, harrowing) must precede before the crops can be gathered; the discipline must precede the joy of harvest (Hos 10:11; Hosea 12 is perhaps a gloss). But Israel has ploughed wickedness and reaped disaster, the tumult of war shall arise in his midst, bringing destruction upon the fortresses, the land and her children ruined, and their king swept away (Hos 10:13-15).The text in parts is very corrupt.
Hos 10:9. from the days of Gibeah: the reference is probably to Benjamins sin described in Judges 19. Wellhausen objects that this was not the sin of Israel, but only of a single tribe, and interprets of the establishment of the monarchy at Gibeah. But it is doubtful whether Hosea regarded the setting up of the monarchy as the fount and chief of Israels sins. Marti, with large omission, reads: As in the days of Gibeah, there is war against the children of iniquity.
Hos 10:10. When it is my desire . . . against them: read, I am come to punish them and gather the peoples against them.The last clause is probably a gloss; read, through their punishment (cf. LXX) for their two transgressions, i.e. not the cultus and the kingdom, but the two calves at Bethel and Dan.
Hos 10:11. Read, but I have made the yoke pass over her fair neck (Heb, hebharti ol al).Judah (between Ephraim and Jacob) can hardly be right. Read, I will yoke Ephraim that he may plough Jacob, etc.
Hos 10:12 a may be rendered, Sow to yourselves righteousness, and, etc.
Hos 10:13 b. for . . . men: probably a gloss.way: read chariots (LXX).
Hos 10:14. among thy people: read, in thy cities.The clause as Shalman (Shalmaneser IV) spoiled Beth-arbel in the days of battle refers to some incident unknown (probably a gloss).
Hos 10:15. Read (LXX), So will I do to you, O house of Israel, because of your great wickedness; in the storm shall the king, etc.
10:9 O Israel, thou hast {k} sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they {l} stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not {m} overtake them.
(k) In those days you were as wicked as the Gibeonites, as God there partly declared: for your zeal could not be good in executing God’s judgments, seeing your own deeds were as wicked as theirs.
(l) That is, to fight, or, the Israelites remained in that stubbornness from that time.
(m) The Israelites were not moved by the example of the Gibeonites to cease from their sins.
Israel’s coming war 10:9-15
This section also opens with a reference to an event in Israel’s past history (cf. Hos 9:10; Hos 10:1; Hos 11:1). Announcements of war punishment (Hos 10:9-10; Hos 10:14-15) bracket Yahweh’s indictment of His people for their sins (Hos 10:11-13).
An initial announcement of war 10:9-10
The Israelites had sinned consistently since the days of the atrocity at Gibeah (Judges 19-20; cf. Jdg 9:9; Isa 1:10). The prophet visualized them as warriors standing at Gibeah. He asked rhetorically if the Lord’s battle against them would not be victorious at this site of their early sinning. He would indeed defeat these people so long associated with iniquity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)