Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 10:13
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.
13. How necessary is this exhortation! For hitherto the Israelites have done the exact opposite.
plowed wickedness ] i.e., formed wicked plans (as Job 4:8). The word for ‘to plough’ has in fact another meaning ‘to plot.’
reaped iniquity ] Better, reaped injustice i. e. the injustice of oppressors, which, being retributive, is, from the higher point of view, substantial justice. The tense is the prophetic perfect.
the fruit of lies ] To ‘lie’ is sometimes = to disappoint (as Hos 9:2), and probably this is the meaning here, viz. that the consequence of Israel’s present policy shall be the disappointment of all his expectations. ‘Fruit’ implies that that policy has been one of ‘lying’, i.e. treason both to earthly kings and to Jehovah (comp. Hos 11:12, Hos 12:1; Isa 28:15).
in thy way ] i.e. in thy policy. But there is a reading of earlier date than the Massoretic, viz. in thy chariots (comp. Hos 14:3; Isa 2:7) which, as it harmonizes better with the rest of the clause, is undoubtedly preferable. For few scholars will maintain that the of the Vatican MS. of the Septuagint is more original than the of the Alexandrine and other MSS. (confirmed by St Jerome and the Syro-Hexaplar text). The Vatican reading can easily be explained; the scribe wished to harmonize the translation with the reading ‘in thy way’ found by him in his Hebrew Bible.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye have plowed wickedness – They not only did not that which God commanded, but they did the exact contrary. They cultivated wickedness. They broke up their fallow ground, yet to sow, not wheat, but tares. They did not leave it even to grow of itself, although even thus, on the natural soil of the human heart, it yields a plenteous harvest; but they bestowed their labor on it, plowed it, sowed, and as they sowed, so they reaped, an abundant increase of it. They brought their ill doings to a harvest, and laid up as in provision the fruits thereof. Iniquity and the results of iniquity, were the gain of all their labor. Of all their toil, they shall have no fruits, except the iniquity itself. : By the plowing, sowing, eating the fruits, he marks the obstinacy of incorrigible sinners, who begin ill, go on to worse, and in the worst come to an end. Then too, when the corrupted soul labors with the purpose of a deed of sin, and resolves in its inmost thoughts, how it may bring the ungodly will into effect in deed, it is like one plowing or sowing. But when, having completed the work of iniquity, it exults that it has done ill, it is like one reaping. When further it has broken out so far as, in pride of heart to defend its sins against the law of God prohibiting them, and goes on unconcerned in impenitence, he is like one who, after harvest, eats the fruits stored up.
Ye have eaten the fruit of lies – They had been full of lies Hos 4:1-2; Hos 7:3; they had lied against God by hypocrisy Hos 5:7; Hos 6:7; Hos 7:16; Hos 10:4 and idolatry; they had spoken lies against Him Hos 7:13; by denying that He gave them what He bestowed upon them, and ascribing it to their idols Hos 2:5, Hos 2:12. All iniquity is a lie. Such then should be the fruit which they tasted, on which they fed. It should not profit, nor satisfy them. It should not merely be empty, as in the case of those who are said to feed on ashes Isa 44:20, but hurtful. As Isaiah saith, they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spiders web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed, breaketh out into a viper Isa 59:4-5. Gain deceives, lust deceives, gluttony deceives; they yield no true delight; they satisfy not, they disgust; and they end in misery of body and soul. Bodily delights, says a father , when absent, kindle a vehement longing; when had and eaten, they satiate and disgust the eater. Spiritual delights are distasteful, when unknown; when possessed, they are longed for; and the more those who hunger after them feed upon them, the more they are hungered for. Bodily delights please, untasted; when tasted, they displease; spiritual, when untasted, are held cheap; when experienced, they please. In bodily delights, appetite generates satiety; satiety, disgust. In spiritual, appetite produceth satiety; satiety appetite. For spiritual delights increase longing in the soul, while they satisfy. For the more their sweetness is perceived, so much the more is that known which is loved more eagerly. Unpossessed, they cannot be loved, because their sweetness is unknown.
Because thou didst trust in thy way – Thy way, i. e., not Gods. They forsook Gods way, followed ways of wickedness and misbelief. While displeasing God, they trusted in the worship of the calves and in the help of Egypt and Assyria, making flesh their arm, and departing from the living God. So long as a man mistrusts his ways of sin, there is hope of his conversion amid any depths of sin. When he trusts in his ways, all entrance is closed against the grace of God. He is as one dead; he not only justifies himself, but is self-justified. There is nothing in him, neither love nor fear, which can be awakened.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 10:13-15
Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity.
Diligence in serving sin
Whereas the Lord had, by His prophets, frequently inculcated that exhortation, to taker pains on their own hearts, to bring forth the fruits of piety and righteousness; they, on the contrary, took pains enough in serving sin, wherein they wanted not fruit, though it should disappoint their expectation. This challenge is farther amplified and enlarged by showing what was the fountain and spring of all this wickedness; to wit, their carnal confidence in the sinful ways and courses they followed, both in matters of state and religion, and their confidence in their many valiant men.
1. Many are so perverse, as they are not only content to live in sin, neglecting their duty, but they will be at pains to promote sin, and will trouble themselves to undo themselves.
2. Sin is a very fertile weed among the children of men; such as are bent on it will soon get their hearts desire of it, and God will give up such as are diligent that way, to a height of impiety, as a plague upon them. Ye have reaped iniquity. By this we are not to understand Gods causing them to reap the fruit of sin in judgments, but that their labours in sin came to a ripe harvest of grown-up iniquity.
3. Whatever fruit sin seem to promise to its followers, or whatever present comforts or success men seem to have by it, yet it will prove but vain, and disappoint them.
4. Mens carnal confidences are great snares to draw them upon sinful courses, and are promising fruits which will disappoint them.
5. There is no confidence that more easily ensnares men, and will disappoint them sooner, than their own witty projects and devices in matters civil and sacred, without respecting the law of God; and their seeming to have power enough to manage and uphold them in these contrived ways. For such is their snare here, which will surely disappoint them. (George Hutcheson.)
Sow a habit, reap a character
Professor William Jones, of Harvard, in his text-book on psychology, says: Could the young but realise how soon they will become mere bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jeffersons play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, I wont count this time Well, he may not count it, and a kind heaven may not count it, but it is being counted none the less. Down among the nerve-cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering and storing it up, to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of course, this has its good side as well as its bad one. As we become permanent drunkards by so many separate drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and authorities and experts in the practical and scientific, spheres by so many separate acts and hours of work.
Because thou didst trust in thy way.
Trust in our own things
Israel, the ten tribes, had two great confidences. Thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
I. In their way. That is, in the way of religion that they had chosen for themselves, and which was distinct from the way of Judah, from the true worship of God. They were confident that they were right, and would not hear anything to the contrary. That which is a mans own way he is very ready to trust in, and to esteem highly. None are more ready to charge others with pride than the proud; and none are more ready to charge others with adhering to their own way than those who most stick to their own conceit.
II. In their mighty men. They had an army to back them, to fight for them, and to maintain that way of theirs. When the outward strength of a kingdom goes along with a way of religion, men think it must needs be right, and that all its opponents are but weak men. Great armies are the confidence of careless hearts. Those that trust to any way of their own have need of creature strengths to uphold them. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Ye have ploughed wickedness] Ye have laboured sinfully.
Ye have reaped iniquity] The punishment due to your iniquity.
Ye have eaten the fruit of lies] Your false worship and your false gods have brought you into captivity and misery.
Because thou didst trust in thy way] Didst confide in thy own counsels, and in thy mighty men, and not in the God who made you.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
You, O Israelites, subjects of the kingdom of the ten tribes,
have ploughed wickedness; instead of repentance, and a life of righteousness, you have lived in wickedness, and propagated it, you have increased all manner of impieties; thus you have abused and perverted the fruits of Gods goodness.
Ye have reaped iniquity; the wickedness you have sown hath sprung up and ripened into iniquity; or, you have met with a recompence worthy of this your labour, God hath punished you for your wickedness; the first seems most agreeable to the text.
Ye have eaten the fruit of lies; fed yourselves with vain hopes, maintained yourselves upon a carnal, sinful confidence, forsaking the fountain of living waters; and these lies the prophet doth in the following words reduce to two heads.
Thou didst trust in thy way; dependence on idols, worshipping them, and seeking to them; their way was their idolatry committed with the calves.
In the multitude of thy mighty men; the next lie on which they lived was the wisdom and valour of their great men, their king, nobles, captains, and counsellors; in confidence of sufficient help by them, they held on in a way of sin and wickedness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. reaped iniquitythat is,the fruit of iniquity; as “righteousness” (Ho10:12) is “the fruit of righteousness” (Job 4:8;Pro 22:8; Gal 6:7;Gal 6:8).
liesfalse and spuriousworship.
trust in thy waythyperverse way (Isa 57:10; Jer 2:23),thy worship of false gods. This was their internal safeguard, astheir external was “the multitude of their mighty men.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye have ploughed wickedness,…. Contrived it, and took a great deal of pains to commit it; by ploughing sowed it, and which sprung up in a plentiful crop: it may denote their first sins, from whence all others arose; as their irreligion and infidelity; their apostasy from God; their idolatry and contempt of his word and prophets:
ye have reaped iniquity; abundance of other sins have sprung up from thence; a large harvest of them have been reaped and got in; or great numbers of other sins have been committed; one sin leads on to another, and these proceed “ad infinitum”; wickedness is of an increasing nature, and grows worse and worse, and proceeds to more ungodliness: many understand this of the punishment or reward of sin:
ye have eaten the fruit of lies; as a sweet morsel though bread of deceit; which could not profit them, nor yield them in the issue the pleasure it promised them, and they hoped for from it:
because thou didst trust in thy way; in the worship of their idols, and in their alliances with neighbouring nations, and promised themselves great prosperity and happiness from hence:
and in the multitude of thy mighty men; their valiant soldiers, their numerous armies, and the generals of them, well skilled in war, and courageous; and also in their auxiliaries, which they had from the Egyptians and others; these they put their confidences in, to protect them; and so in their garrisons and fortresses, as the following words show:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The reason is here found, why I thought that the Prophet did not simply exhort the people, but rather charged them with obduracy for not growing better, though often admonished. He then relates how much God had previously done to restore the people to a sound mind; for it had been his constant teaching, Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap, in proportion, kindness, or according to the proportion of kindness; plough a ploughing for yourselves; it is the time to seek the Lord Though then the people heard these words daily, and had their ears almost stunned by them, they did not yet change for the better, nor made themselves pliable; nay, as it were with a fixed purpose, they ploughed, he says, ungodliness, they reaped iniquity; they therefore did eat the fruit of falsehood, for they sustained just punishments, or satiated themselves with falsehood and treachery. We now apprehend the meaning of the Prophet: I will come to particulars.
Sow for yourselves righteousness He shows that the salvation of this people had not been neglected by God; for he had tried whether they were healable. The remedy was, that the people were to know that God would be pacified towards them, if they devoted themselves to righteousness. The Lord offered his favour: “Return only to me; for as soon as the seed of righteousness shall be sown by you, the harvest shall be prepared, a reward shall be laid up for you; ye shall then reap fruit according to your kindness.”
But if any one asks, whether it be in the power of men to sow righteousness, the answer is ready, and that is that the Prophet explains not here how far the ability of men extends, but requires what they ought to do. For whence is it that so many of God’s curses often overwhelm us, except that we sow seed similar to the produce? that is, God repays us what we have deserved. This then is what the Prophet shows, when he says, “Sow for yourselves righteousness:” he shows that it was their fault, if the Lord did not cherish them kindly and bountifully, and in a paternal manner; it was because their impiety suffered him not.
And the Prophet only speaks of the duties of the second table, as also the Prophets do, when they exhort men to repentance: they often begin with the second table of the law, because the perverseness of men with regard to this is more palpable, and they can thereby be more easily convicted.
But what he afterwards subjoins, נירו ניר, niru nir, plough the ploughing, is not, I confess, in its proper place; but there is in this nothing inconsistent: for after having exhorted them to plough, he now adds, that they were like uncultivated and desert fields, so that it was not right to sow the seed until they had been prepared. The Prophet then ought, according to the order of nature, to have begun with ploughing; but he simply said what he wished to convey, that the Israelites received not the fruit they desired, because they had only sown unrighteousness. If they now wished to be dealt with more kindly, he shows the remedy, which is to sow righteousness. If it was so, that they were already filled with wickedness, he shows that they were like a field overgrown with briers and thorns. When therefore a field has long remained uncultivated, thorns and thistles and other noxious herbs grow there, and a double ploughing will be necessary, and this double labour is called Novation; (71) and Jeremiah speaks of the same thing, when he shows that the people had grown hardened in their wickedness, and that they could not bear any fruit until the thorns were torn up by the roots, and until they had been well cleansed from the vices in which they had become fixed; and hence he says, —
‘
Plough again your fallow-ground,’ (Jer 4:3.)
And it is the time for seeking Jehovah, until he come Here the Prophet offers a hope of pardon to the people, to encourage them to repent: for we know that when men are called back to God, they are torpid and even faint in their minds, until they are assured that God will be propitious to them; and this is what we have treated of more fully in another place. The Prophet now handles the same truth, that it is the time for seeking the Lord. He indeed uses the word עת, ot, which means a seasonable time. It is then the time for seeking the Lord; as though he said, “The way of salvation is not yet closed against you; for the Lord invites you to himself, and he is of his own self inclined to mercy.” This is one thing. We are, however, at the same time, taught that there ought to be no delay; for such tardiness will cost them dear, if they despise so kind an invitation of God, and go on in their own obstinacy. It is then the time for seeking Jehovah; as Isaiah also says
‘
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is nigh: Behold, now is the time of good-pleasure; behold, now is the day of salvation,’ (Isa 55:6.) (72)
So also in this place, the Prophet testifies that God will be easily entreated, if Israel returned to the right way; but that, if they continued obstinately in their sins, this time would not be perpetual; for the door would be shut, and the people would cry in vain, after having neglected this seasonable invitation, and abused the patience of God.
It is then the time, he says, for seeking the Lord, until he come This last clause is a confirmation of the former; for the Prophet here expressly declares that it would not be useless labour for Israel to begin to seek God — ‘He will come to you.’ He at the same time warns them not to be too hasty in their expectations; for though God may receive us into favour, he does not yet immediately deliver us from all punishments or evils. We must, then, patiently wait until the fruit of reconciliation appears. We hence see that both points are here wisely handled by the Prophet; for he would have Israel to hasten with deep concern, and not to delay long the time of repentance, and also to remain quiet, if God did not immediately show himself propitious, and show tokens of his favour; the Prophet wished, in this case, the people to be patient.
And rain righteousness upon you. The word ירה, ire, means indeed “to teach,” and also “to throw;” but as the word מורה, mure, derived from this verbs as it is well known, means the rain, I could not explain it here otherwise than “he will rain righteousness upon you.” What, indeed, could the teaching of righteousness mean? For the Prophet alludes to the harvest; and the people might say, “Are we sure of provision, if we seek God?” “Certainly,” he says; “he will come — he will come to you, and will rain righteousness, or the fruit of righteousness, upon you.” In short, the Prophet here shows, that whenever God is sought sincerely and from the heart by sinners, he comes forth to meet them, and shows himself kind and merciful. But as he had spoken of ploughing and sowing, the fruit or the harvest was now to be mentioned; that he might therefore hold forth a promise that they who had sown righteousness would not lose their expense and toil, he says, the Lord will rain upon you the fruit of righteousness.
Now follows the other verse, which, as I have said, completes the passage, Ye have ploughed ungodliness, iniquity have ye reaped: ye have eaten the fruit of falsehood The Prophet shows that the people had in vain been daily admonished, and so kindly and sweetly allured by the Lord; for they had not only slighted wholesome warnings, but had, in their perverse wickedness, abandoned themselves to a contrary course: ye have ploughed, he says, impiety; God has exhorted you to sow righteousness, — what have ye sown? Impiety; and then ye have reaped iniquity. Some think that the punishments which the people had to bear are pointed out here; as though the Prophet had said, “God has returned to you such a produce as was suitable to your sowing; ye are therefore satiated with falsehood — that is, with your own false confidence.” But he seems rather to pursue the same strain of thought, and to say, that they had ploughed impiety — that is, that they had been from the beginning ungodly; and then, that they had reaped iniquity — that is, that they had continued their wickedness to the very harvest, and laid up their fruit as it were in a storehouse, that they might satiate themselves with treachery. The Prophet, I think, speaks in this sense; but let there be a free choice. I only show what seems to me most suitable.
For it follows then, For thou hast trusted in thine own way, in the multitude of thy valiant ones Here the Prophet points out the chief spring-head of all sins; for the Israelites, trusting in their own counsels, gave no ear to the word of God: and then, being fortified by their own strength, they dreaded not his judgements, nor fled to his pledged protection to defend them. This pride is not then named here by the Prophet without reason as the chief source of all sins. For when one distrusts his own wisdom, or is afraid, being conscious of his weakness, he can be easily subdued; but when pride possesses man’s minds so that he thinks himself wise, nothing will then prevail with him, neither counsel nor instruction. It is the same when any one greatly extols his own strength, and is inflated with pride, he cannot be made tractable, were he admonished a hundred times. The Prophet then defines here the falsehood, the impiety, and the iniquity of which he had been speaking. For though the people sinned in various ways, the fountain and root was in this lie or falsehood, that they were wont to set up their own strength in opposition to God, and thought themselves so endued with wisdom, that they had no need of teachers. Since, then, the people were so blinded with their own pride, the Prophet shows here that it was this lie with which they had satiated themselves. It follows —
(71) Novatio, which means the second ploughing — the ploughing of the fallow-ground — of the ground once before ploughed, the novale. — Ed.
(72) Isa 49:8. — fj.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Thy way.By a slight change of the Hebrew word thus rendered it acquires the sense, thy chariots, a reading followed by the LXX. and Ewald, Kuinl, and Nowack. It establishes a good parallelism, and harmonises with prophetic teaching (Hos. 14:3; Isa. 2:7). The Masoretic text gives, however, a fine meaning.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘You have ploughed wickedness,
You have reaped iniquity,
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
For you trusted in your way (or ‘power’),
In the multitude of your mighty men.’
But YHWH then charges Israel with being far from repentance. They have ploughed in wickedness by their way of living, they have reaped in their lives nothing but iniquity (compare Hos 4:2), they have eaten the fruit of lies and deceit as they have followed the route of false worship while pretending to be faithful to the covenant. In fact their understanding of the covenant was so low that they probably thought that they had been observing it in their own light, interpreting it in terms of offering sufficient sacrifices and attendance at feasts. And all the while they were forgetting what YHWH really was because their trust was in their military power and what they saw as their powerful army. To people who had never seen the Assyrian army, their own standing army must have seemed impressive indeed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 10:13. Because thou did trust, &c. Houbigant begins the 14th verse with this clause: Because thou didst trust, &c. Therefore, &c. And after Grotius, he reads, As Shalman was spoiled by the hand of Jerub-baal [or Gideon] in the day of battle; the mother shall be dashed in pieces with her children. The prophet seems to allude to the war of Gideon against Salmana, general of the Midianites, from whom the city here spoken of was called Shalman. But others suppose that the allusion is to the destruction of Beth-arbel, a city of Armenia, by Salmaneser, here called Shalman.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Hos 10:13 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.
Ver. 13. Ye have plowed wickedness ] The former exhortation was even spilt upon them; for they went on to plot and plough wickedness; they had their necks in the devil’s yoke, and promoted his kingdom with sides and shoulders; they let out the strength of their spirits for the furtherance of sin, and were at no small pains to go to hell, as being the devil’s hinds and horses to draw his plough, Pro 21:4 . “Even as I have seen,” saith Eliphaz, “they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same,” Job 4:8 . Ye have reaped iniquity, saith our prophet, that is dignum factis praemium, the reward of your wickedness. And her iniquity is opposed to mercy in the former verse, as wickedness also is to righteousness; or wickedness may be taken for their apostasy, idolatry, and creature confidence; and iniquity for the rest of their enormities, proceeding from those former; for these wicked ones are never out of action. Arant, serunt, errant, scelera, they plough, sow, and harrow mischief (Plaut. Capt. Act 3:1-26 . sc. 5); so that would they but take the like pains for heaven that they do for hell, they could not lightly miss it.
Ye have eaten the fruit of lies
Because thou didst trust in thy way
And in the multitude of their mighty men
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ye have plowed = Ye have sown. Heb, harashtem. Occurs, with this spelling, only here and Jdg 14:18. The Massorah (App-30and App-93) places it in an alphabetical list of words, occurring twice, with two different meanings (see Ginsburg’s Massorah, vol. i, p. 498). It is therefore a Homonym with one meaning: ye have plowed (Jdg 14:18); and another, ye have sown (Hos 10:13).
wickedness = lawlessness. Hebrew. rasha’. App-44.
trust = confide. Hebrew. batah. App-69.
way. Septuagint reads “chariots”. This corresponds with the next clause.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
trust
(See Scofield “Psa 2:12”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
plowed: Hos 8:7, Job 4:8, Pro 22:8, Gal 6:7, Gal 6:8
eaten: Pro 1:31, Pro 12:19, Pro 18:20, Pro 18:21, Pro 19:5
didst: Psa 52:7, Psa 62:10
in the: Psa 33:16, Ecc 9:11
Reciprocal: 2Ki 5:27 – leprosy Job 15:35 – conceive Pro 11:18 – but Jer 6:19 – even Jer 48:7 – because Amo 6:12 – for Zec 7:9 – saying
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
FRUIT WHICH IS DEADLY
Ye have eaten the fruit of lies.
Hos 10:13
The faithless, divided heart of man produced its natural fruit. In this chapter we find that Israel as a sinful nation is (I) described, (II) appealed to, (III) punished.
I. The picture of sinful Israel.Three characteristics are specially emphasised:
(1) Selfishness. Israel bringeth forth fruit unto himself. The meaning is, that the people are not rich toward God. They are like a vine barren of fruit, but abundant in leaves and tendrils. The tree which puts all its vigour into leaves is sure to bear poor fruit, if indeed it bear any at all.
(2) Deceitfulness. Deceitfulness cuts both ways. The pleasure is as great of being cheated as to cheat. The man who fools others is tolerably certain in the end to get fooled himself. Honesty is the best policy.
(3) Self-confidence. Thou didst trust in thy way, etc. Here are two sources of confidence: natural wisdom and natural armies. The one is within, the other is without. The American, by his circumstances, is tempted to over-reliance upon self. Smartness, which, as a master motive, leads to so many crimes and wrecks so many lives, is here pointed to. The Englishman, on the other hand, is naturally proud of his invincible armies, marching with the swing of centuries of conquest. Both, as sources of trust, are wrong.
II. The sinful people appealed to.The tone here is very tender. O Israel, thou hast sinned. I passed over upon her fair neck. God had not put a heavy, galling burden on this people. They had not yet been carried away into captivity. So also, Sow to, etc. Notice the beauty of this verse. Sow if you mean to reap. Righteousness sown yields mercy. Change your whole life. Break up your fallow ground. Cultivate the barren places in your natures. It is time to seek the Lord. Do this, and He will send such a power of Divine grace that righteousness shall rain upon you.
III. The description of Israels punishment.The national religion shall utterly break down. The king shall be removed. The reason for this is, we feared not the Lord. Idolatry is discovered to be in vain, the very idols in which Israel trusted shall be given to this conqueror. Idolatry is further discovered to lie at the root of the ruin which has befallen the nation. The shame and horror of this national humiliation. The people shall struggle in vain. The very fortresses shall themselves be sacked. The fearful scenes of violence which accompany a siege shall be enacted in the capital.
Illustrations
(1) Israel lived for itself. It made leaves, but brought forth no fruit. Christians sometimes do the same. Give up praying that you may enjoy your religion, was said to one of this kind, who had prayed for personal happiness in vain, and set to work helping some one else. The slave-holder who had a slave and a half, and prayed that God would bless Moses and my share of Pete, illustrated a state of mind all too common.
(2) God is the great King, the Sovereign Ruler. Lose Him and all is lost. What can an earthly king do for us if we have lost the protection of the God of all the earth? We learn how closely connected are loyalty and religion. Not to fear God is not to honour the Ruler. The secret of all prosperity in any nation is godliness.
(3) It may be that in our own hearts and lives there is a great deal of fallow ground, covered with thorns and thistles, and given over to neglect and waste. How important that we should break it up! Let us ask that God would drive the ploughshare of deep heart-searching and conviction across the caked and sterile acres. It is time to seek the Lord. Death is certain; judgment is hasting; opportunities are waxing fewer; the soul is becoming more and more callous. Ask God to break in upon the awful lethargy which may be settling down upon you.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Hos 10:13. Plowing and reaping is again used figuratively, and this time it pertains to the evil kind of products. The things sowed (plowed) is wicked-ness and the harvest is iniquity, and the particular kind of iniquity is lies. Israel was deceived by the leading men in the nation, who were selfish and unscrupulous in their teaching.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 10:13-15. Ye have ploughed wickedness Instead of working righteousness, (Hos 10:12,) you have taken a great deal of pains in the service of sin, to compass your wicked designs. Ye have reaped iniquity Ye have, in return, received the fruit of iniquity, namely, punishment, or calamity. Ye have eaten the fruit of lies Fed yourselves with vain hopes, which have deceived and will deceive you. Or, you have trusted to that which has been only specious, not really satisfying or profitable. Because thou didst trust in thy way Thy own carnal projects and sinful contrivances, particularly the idolatry at Dan and Beth-el. In the multitude of thy mighty men The next lie, or false ground of their confidence, was the wisdom and valour of their great men. Therefore shall a tumult arise A terrible outcry, as of men affrighted at the news of the enemies approach. And all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, &c. This seems to be a prophecy of the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser, which put a final period to the kingdom of Israel, 2Ki 17:6. It held out a siege of three years, which probably provoked Shalmaneser to treat it with the severity which he used, when he made himself master of it. The only difficulty in this verse is, what place or person is alluded to by the words, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle. It is supposed that by Shalman is meant Shalmaneser; and that Beth-arbel was a place in Armenia which he took and spoiled, putting the inhabitants to the sword without any distinction either of age or sex. But it cannot be said with certainty, that this supposition is founded on fact. Some other conquest, by some other person, might possibly be meant. But it is not material to know this. It was some place which had been treated with great severity by the conqueror, and such treatment the prophet denounces Samaria should meet with. It is worthy of remark, however, that the Vulgate, St. Jerome, and the LXX. (see the Alexandrine MS.) suppose that the history alluded to is Gideons destruction of Zalmunna. So shall Beth-el do unto you This is the fruit of your worshipping the golden calves at Beth-el and Dan. As it happened to the city above mentioned, so shall it happen to you, because of your iniquities. In a morning That is, suddenly, quickly, and unexpectedly; or after a night of adversity, when they thought the morning of prosperity was come; shall the king of Israel be cut off And the whole state and government of Israel be put an end to along with him. This seems to be spoken of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, who, in the sixth year of his reign, was shut up in prison by the king of Assyria, who, in three years more, made himself master of the whole kingdom of Israel, and carried the inhabitants of it into captivity. The Vulgate, (which, with the LXX. and the Syriac, carries this clause to the next chapter,) instead of , in the morning, seems to have read , as the morning, rendering the clause, sicut mane transit, pertransit rex Israel: As the morning passes away, so passes away the king of Israel. This reading Bishop Horsley adopts, and translates to nearly the same sense, thus: As the morning is brought to nothing, to nothing shall the king of Israel be brought: observing, The sudden and total destruction of the monarchy of the ten tribes is compared to the sudden and total extinction of the beauties of the dawn in the sky, by the instantaneous diffusion of the solar light: by which the ruddy streaks in the east, the glow of orange-coloured light upon the horizon, are at once obliterated, absorbed, and lost in the colourless light of day. The change is sudden even in these climates; it must be more sudden in the tropical; and in all it is one of the most complete that nature presents.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Instead of plowing righteousness and reaping loyal love (Hos 10:12), the Israelites had plowed wickedness and reaped injustice. Instead of eating the fruit of righteousness, they had eaten the fruit of lies. They had done this because they trusted in themselves and in their own military might.