Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 10:14
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.
14, 15. In a few words the prophet describes the crash of Israel’s ruin (comp. Hos 13:16).
Therefore ] The prophet simply connects the judgment by an ‘and’; but the next verse clearly shows that sequence is here identical with consequence.
a tumult ] i.e., the tumult, or, more exactly, the ‘roar’, of an advancing army (as in Isa 17:12).
among thy people ] Rather, against thy peoples. The tribes of Israel are called peoples, as in Deu 33:3.
as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel, &c.] It would seem that the prophet refers to some event of recent times which took place in the immediate neighbourhood of Ephraim. Beth-arbel will then be, not the Assyrian Arbela, but either the place so called on the west of the lake of Tiberias, or more probably that near Pella, on the east of the Jordan. Who Shalman was, is altogether uncertain. Schrader thinks that he was either Shalmaneser III., who made an expedition to the ‘cedar country’ (Lebanon) in 775 b.c., and to Damascus in 773 2, on which occasions he may have penetrated into the Transjordanic country, and destroyed the last-mentioned Arbela, or else a Moabitish king Salamanu, mentioned by Tiglath-Pileser as his tributary, who, like other Moabitish kings, very possibly made incursions into the land of Israel. It is against the former view that the abbreviation Shalman nowhere else occurs, and that ‘king’ or ‘king of Assyria’ is not added. But the latter view, though plausible (the Hebrew word is strictly, not Shalman, but Shalman), is not the only possible one. The Septuagint renders ‘pri nce Salaman,’ which, if we may take it as a variant, will point rather to a general (= ‘prince of the host’) than to a king. The name occurs again on a Palmyrene inscription, so that there may have been several other Shalmans. The barbarities attending the capture of Beth-arbel seem to have made a deep impression on the Israelites; Mr Huxtable aptly reminds us of the horrors of the sack of Magdeburg. Comp. 2Ki 8:12; Psa 137:8-9. [The Septuagint, the Syro-Hexaplar, the Old Latin, and the Vulgate, followed by Bishop Horsley and the Jewish scholar Abraham Geiger, suppose a reference to Zalmunna ( , Salmana) who was slain by Gideon or Jerubbaal according to Judges 8. This hint will enable the reader to understand the singular renderings of these ancient versions.]
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people – Literally, peoples. Such was the immediate fruit of departing from God and trusting in human beings and idols. They trusted in their own might, and the multitude of their people. That might should, through intestine division and anarchy, become their destruction. As in the dislocated state of the Roman empire under the first emperors, so in lsrael, the successive usurpers arose out of their armies, armies , the multitude of their mighty ones, in whom they trusted. The confused noise of war should first arise in the midst of their own peoples. They are spoken of not as one, but as many; peoples, not, as God willed them to be, one people, for they had no principle of oneness or stability, who had no legitimate succession, either of kings or of priests; who had made kings, but not through God. Each successor had the same right as his predecessor, the right of might, and furnished an example and precedent and sanction to the murderer of himself or of his son.
All thy fortresses shall be spoiled – Literally, the whole of thy fortresses shall be wasted. He speaks of the whole as one. Their fenced cities, which cut off all approach, should be one waste. They had forsaken God, their fortress and deliverer, and so He gave up their fortresses to the enemy, so that all and each of them were laid waste. The confusion, begun among themselves, prepared for destruction by the enemy. Of this he gives one awful type.
As Shalman spoiled – (or wasted) Beth-Arbel in the day of battle Shalman is, no doubt, Shalmaneser king of Assyria, who came up against Hoshea, early in his reign, and he became a servant to him and brought him a present 2Ki 17:3. Shalman being the characteristic part of the name , the prophet probably omitted the rest, on the ground of the rhythm. Beth-Arbel is a city, which the Greeks, retaining, in like way, only the latter and characteristic half of the name, called Arbela .
Of the several cities called Arbela, that celebrated in Grecian history, was part of the Assyrian empire. Two others, one in the mountain-district of Pella , and so on the East side of Jordan, the other between Sepphoris and Tiberias , (and so in Naphthali) must, together with the countries in which they lay, have fallen into the bands of the Assyrians in the reign of Tiglath-pileser, who took – Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali 2Ki 15:29, in the reign of Pekah. The whole country, East of Jordan, being now in the hands of Shalmaneser, his natural approach to Samaria was over the Jordan, through the valley or plain of Jezreel. Here was the chief wealth of Israel, and the fittest field for the Assyrian horse. Over the Jordan then, from where Israel itself came when obedient to God, from where came the earlier instruments of Gods chastisements, came doubtless the host of Shalmaneser, along the great plain of Esdraelon. In that plain also lay an Arbela, nine miles from Legion . Legion itself was at the Western extremity of the plain, as Scythopolis or Bethshean lay at the East .
It was about fifteen miles West of Nazareth , and ten miles from Jezreel . Beth-Arbel must accordingly have lain somewhere in the middle of the valley of Jezreel. Near this Arbela, then, Israel must have sustained a decisive defeat from Shalmaneser. For the prophet does not say only, that he spoiled Beth-Arbel, but that he did this in a day of battle. Here Hosea, probably in the last years of his life, saw the fulfillment of his own earlier prophecy; and God brake the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel Hos 1:5.
The mother was dashed to pieces on the children – It was an aggravation of this barbarity, that, first the infants were dashed against the stones before their mothers eyes, then the mothers themselves were dashed upon them. Syrians 2Ki 8:12, Assyrians , Medes Isa 13:16, Babylonians Psa 137:8-9, used this barbarity. India has borne witness to us of late, how pagan nature remains the same.
It may be that, in the name Betharbel, the prophet alludes to the name Bethel. : As Betharbel, i. e., the house, or it may be the idolatrous temple of Arbel, rescued it not, but was rather the cause of its destruction, so shall Bethel. The holy places of Israel, the memorials of the free love of God to their forefathers, were pledges to them, the children of those forefathers, that, so long as they continued in the faith of their fathers, God the Unchangeable, would continue those same mercies to them. When they turned Bethel, the house of God, into Bethaven, house of vanity, then it became, like Betharbel, literally, house of ambush of God, the scene and occasion of their desolation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Shall a tumult arise] The enemy shall soon fall upon thy people, and take all thy fortified places.
As Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel] Some think that this refers to Jerubbaal, or Gideon’s victory over Zalmunna, general of the Midianites; see Jdg 7:1-8:21. Others think that an allusion is made here to the destruction of Arbela, a city of Armenia, by Shalmaneser, here called Shalman; and this while he was only general of the Assyrian forces, and not yet king. I think the history to which this refers is unknown. It seems that it was distinguished by some remarkable ferocities.
The mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.] But when, where, how, and by whom, still remain unknown. Conjecture in such a case must be useless.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore, since such are their sins, and such will be their disappointments, since their refuges will be so vain, cud their enemies so many and strong,
shall a tumult arise; a discontent, murmur, and outcry, as of men affrighted, not knowing what course to take when the alarm is given, and certain news cometh, that Shalmaneser comes with his army against the kingdom of Israel.
Among thy people; the Israelites, among all sorts of people, among all the tribes of the kingdom.
All thy fortresses shall be spoiled; every one of thy strong holds, those impregnable fortifications on which thou hast laid out all that art and diligence could, to make them able to break the power of the enemy that dares besiege them, these, every one of them, (as the Hebrew construction bears it,) shall be wasted.
Shalman; it is most probably spoken of Shalmaneser, though abbreviated, which is usual in all writings of history; so Alexander or Pompey, without the addition of Great, and so here Shalman without eser, or surnamed prince.
Betharbel, possibly Arbel here may be the name of a man whose house and family Shalman destroyed, and so this passage might be read, the house of Arbel; but the more likely reading is as we read it, so it is the name of some country or city, or both. We meet with a city of this name, famous for the overthrow which Alexander gave to Darius, and probable it is that this might be that Arbel or Beth-arbel here spoken of, rebuilt and grown great again since the sack of it by Shallman, which was at least four hundred years before the overthrow of Darius. It was a city of Assyria, and gave name, Arbelis, to a country or region, part of Assyria, and lay somewhat below Arpad.
In the day of battle: of this war we no where else read; it is likely it was not long before the war with Samaria and the ten tribes, that the memory of that severity was fresh, and the particulars then well known.
The mother was dashed in pieces upon her children; all were put to the sword, and the city utterly destroyed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. tumulta tumultuous war.
among thy peopleliterally,”peoples”: the war shall extend to the whole people ofIsrael, through all the tribes, and the peoples allied to her.
Shalman spoiledBeth-arbelthat is, Shalmaneser, a compound name, in which thepart common to it and the names of three other Assyrian kings, isomitted; Tiglath-pileser, Esar-haddon, Shar-ezer. So Jeconiah isabbreviated to Coniah. Arbel was situated in Naphtali in Galilee, onthe border nearest Assyria. Against it Shalmaneser, at his firstinvasion of Israel (2Ki 17:3),vented his chief rage. God threatens Israel’s fortresses with thesame fate as Arbel suffered “in the day (on the occasion) of thebattle” then well-known, though not mentioned elsewhere (compare2Ki 18:34). This event, closeon the reign of Hezekiah, shows the inscription of Hosea (Ho1:1) to be correct.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people,…. Because of their wickedness and vain confidence, the Assyrian army should invade them; which would cause a tumultuous noise to be made throughout the tribes in all cities and towns, a cry, a howling, and lamentation; especially among fearful and timorous ones as women and children; who would be thrown into a panic at hearing the news of a powerful foreign enemy entering their country, and laying waste all before them; a voice of clamour, as Jarchi observes, crying, flee, flee:
and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled; the strong holds, in which they put their confidence for safety; everyone of these should be taken and demolished by the enemy, in all parts of the kingdom; so that there should be none left to flee unto no place of retreat:
as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle; that is, Shalmaneser king of Assyria, his name being abbreviated, as Bethaven is called Aven, Ho 10:8; who had lately, though there in no account of it elsewhere, spoiled this place, demolished its fortresses, and destroyed the inhabitants of it; which is thought to be either the city of Arbel beyond Jordan, in the Apocrypha:
“Who went forth by the way that leadeth to Galgala, and pitched their tents before Masaloth, which is in Arbela, and after they had won it, they slew much people.” (1 Maccabees 9:2)
which Josephus k calls a city of Galilee, and sometimes a village; and which, according to him, was not far from Sipphore, and in lower Galilee near to which thieves and robbers dwelt in caves and dens, difficult to come at; and so a Jewish writer l places Arbel between Sipphore and Tiberias; and elsewhere m mention is made of the valley of Arbel, near to these places: and Jerom n says, there was the village Arbel beyond Jordan, on the borders of Pella, a city of Palestine; and another of this name in the large plain, nine miles from the town of Legio: and he also speaks of an Arbela, the border of the tribe of Judah to the east; perhaps the same with Harbaalah, whence Arbela, or the mount of Baalah, Jos 15:11; now one or other of these places might be laid waste by this king of Assyria, in the first year of Hoshea, when he came up against him, and made him tributary: though some think Arbela in Assyria or Armenia is meant, famous for the utter defeat of Darius by Alexander, four hundred years after this, when it might have been rebuilt, and become considerable again: some of the Jewish writers o say there was a place near Nineveh so called; Benjamin of Tudela says p, from Nineveh to Arbel is one “parsa”, or four miles: and others q think Samaria itself is meant; but that cannot be, since the destruction of that city is here prophesied of, which should be as this: some conjecture it was the temple of a deity called Arbel, as Schmidt: but, be it what or where it will, here was a great devastation and slaughter made; which at this time was well known, and to which the desolation that would be made in the land of Israel is compared. The Vulgate Latin version is, “as Salmana was wasted by the house of him who judged Baal in the day of battle”; which patrons and defenders of interpret of the slaughter of Zalmunna by Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon; but the names of the one and the other are very different; nor does the text speak of the slaughter of a prince, but of the destruction of a city, and not of Shalman, but of Arbel; and refers not to an ancient, but recent history. Mr. Whiston r places the spoil of Arbela in the year 3272 A.M. or before Christ 732;
the mother was dashed in pieces with [her] children: women big with child, or having their children in their arms, had no mercy shown them, but were destroyed together; so it had been at Arbel, and would be again in Israel, which was dreadful to think of: according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, Arbel was the name of a great man in those days, whose family, meant by beth or a house, was thus cruelly destroyed.
k Antiqu. l. 12. c. 11. sect. 1. & l. 14. c. 15. sect. 4. In Vita sua, sect. 69. p. 922, 934. l Juchasin, fol. 65. 1. m T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 2, 3. & Taaniot, fol. 69. 2. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 34. 3. n De locis Heb. fol. 87. L. o Juchasin, ut supra. (fol. 65. 1.) p Itinerar. p. 62. q Juchasin, ib. (fol. 65. 1.) R. Joseph Kimchi in David Kimchi in loc. r Chronological Tables, cent. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And tumult will arise against thy peoples, and all thy fortifications are laid waste, as Shalman laid Beth-Arbeel waste in the day of the war: mother and children are dashed to pieces. Hos 10:15. Thus hath Bethel done to you because of the wickedness of your wickedness: in the morning dawn the king of Israel is cut off, cut off.” with as mater lect . (Ewald, 15, e), construed with : to rise up against a person, as in Psa 27:12; Job 16:8. , war, tumult, as in Amo 2:2. : against thy people of war. The expression is chosen with a reference to robh gibborm (the multitude of mighty men), in which Israel put its trust. The meaning, countrymen, or tribes, is restricted to the older language of the Pentateuch. The singular refers to , as in Isa 64:10, contrary to the ordinary language (cf. Ewald, 317, c). Nothing is known concerning the devastation of Beth-Arbeel by Shalman; and hence there has always been great uncertainty as to the meaning of the words. Shalman is no doubt a contracted form of Shalmanezer, the king of Assyria, who destroyed the kingdom of the ten tribes (2Ki 17:6). Beth – ‘arbe’l is hardly Arbela of Assyria, which became celebrated through the victory of Alexander (Strab. Isa 16:1, Isa 16:3), since the Israelites could scarcely have become so well acquainted with such a remote city, as that the prophet could hold up the desolation that befel it as an example to them, but in all probability the Arbela in Galilaea Superior, which is mentioned in 1 Maccabees 9:2, and very frequently in Josephus, a place in the tribe of Naphtali, between Sephoris and Tiberias (according to Robinson, Pal. iii. pp. 281-2, and Bibl. Researches, p. 343: the modern Irbid). The objection offered by Hitzig, – viz. that shod is a noun in Hos 9:6; Hos 7:13; Hos 12:2, and that the infinitive construct, with prefixed, is written in Jer 47:4; and lastly, that if Shalman were the subject, we should expect the preposition before , – is not conclusive, and the attempt which he makes to explain Salman-Beth-Arbel from the Sanscrit is not worth mentioning. The clause “mother and children,” etc., a proverbial expression denoting inhuman cruelty (see at Gen 32:12), does not merely refer to the conduct of Shalman in connection with Beth-arbel, possibly in the campaign mentioned in 2Ki 17:3, but is also intended to indicate the fate with which the whole of the kingdom of Israel was threatened. In 2Ki 17:16 this threat concludes with an announcement of the overthrow of the monarchy, accompanied by another allusion to the guilt of the people. The subject to is Beth-el (Chald.), not Shalman or Jehovah. Bethel, the seat of the idolatry, prepares this lot for the people on account of its great wickedness. is a perf. proph. ‘ and , wickedness in its second potency, extreme wickedness (cf. Ewald, 313, c). Basshachar, in the morning-dawn, i.e., at the time when prosperity is once more apparently about to dawn, tempore pacis alluscente (Cocc., Hgst.). The gerund adds to the force; and is not this or the other king, but as in 2Ki 17:7, the king generally, i.e., the monarchy of Israel.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Prophet here denounces punishment, having before exposed to view the sins of the people, and sufficiently proved them guilty, who by subterfuges avoided judgement. He now adds, that God would be a just avenger. A tumult then shall arise among thy people Thou hast hitherto satiated thyself with falsehood; for hope in thine own courage has inebriated thee, and also a false notion of wisdom; but the Lord will suddenly stir up tumults among thy people; that is, a tumult shall in one moment arise on every side. He intimates that its progress would not be slow, but that the tumult would be each as would confound things from one corner of the land to the other. A tumult then, or perdition, shall arise among thy people; for the word שאון, shaun, “ on” means perdition or destruction; but I prefer “tumult,” as the verb, קאם “ kam ” seems to require. “Every one of thy fortresses,” he says, “shall be demolished.” He shows that whatever strength the people had would be weak and wholly useless, when the Lord had begun to raise a tumult; for this tumult would reduce to ruin all their fortified cities.
He then adds an instance, which some refer to Shalmanezar. He only mentions Shaman; and Shalmanezar is indeed a compound name; but it is not known whether the Prophet had put down here his name in its simple form, Shaman: and then he mentions Betharbel, a city, referred to in some parts of Scripture, which was, with respect to Judea, beyond Jordan. If we receive this opinion, it seems that the Prophet wished to revive the memory of a recent slaughter, “Ye know what lately happened to you when Shalmanezar marched with so much cruelty through your country, when he laid waste your villages and towns and cities, and ye especially know how fierce the battle was in Betharbel, when a carnage was made, when mothers were violently thrown on their children, when the enemy spared neither sex nor age, which in the worst wars is a most cruel thing.” Such, then, may have been the meaning of the Prophet. But others think that he relates a history, which is nowhere else to be told. However this may be, it appears that the Prophet spake of some slaughter which was in his day well known. Then the report of it was common enough, whether it was a slaughter made by Shalmanezar, or any other, of which there is no express mention found. We now see the meaning of the Prophet; but we cannot finish to-day.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Hos. 10:14. Tumult] War (Amo. 2:2). People] Lit. peoples, not, as God willed them to be, one people, for they had no principle of oneness or stability, who had no legitimate succession, either of kings or of priests [Pusey]. Against all Israel and the tribes connected with her should tumultuous war arise. Shal-] Shalmanezer king of Assyria. The mother] and children, inhuman cruelty, commonly practised (2Ki. 8:12; Isa. 13:16; Psa. 137:8).
Hos. 10:15. Bethel] The seat of idolatry prepares this destruction for the people. Wick-] Lit. the evil of your evil. Wickedness in its second potency, extreme wickedness [Keil]. Morning] In the hope from alliance with Egypt against Assyria, when prosperity was expected to dawn; or suddenly and surely shall the kingdom be utterly cut off.
HOMILETICS
THE EVIL OF EVILS.Hos. 10:14-15
Therefore, such the fruit of departing from God, and trusting in idols and mighty men. Tumults from within would prepare the nation for invasion without. The king would be cut off and the kingdom destroyed by a sudden stroke. Idolatry and the corruption of pure religion will bring judgment upon the Church. Sin is the evil of evils, the source of all sorrows.
I. It creates national wars. Nations get angry and disagree. High attitudes and great tones are assumed, and war must support the dignity and maintain the interests of the throne. Insults to flags and ambassadors, petty offences to rulers, the policy of cabinets and the intrigue of courts, have been motives to war.
1. We have aggressive war. Nations are not satisfied with their natural boundaries; for gain and self-aggrandizement they must invade the territories of others. Ambition, passion for empire and glory, desire for vengeance and plunder, lead them to unjust and unnatural aggression.
2. We have civil war. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people. Nations, one in language and interests, are divided by enmity and tumult. In Israel there was no central principle, no oneness nor stability. Confused noise and war sprang from the midst of their own ranks (Amo. 2:2). There were peoples, not, as God willed them to be, one, but many. Foreign wars are dreadful enough, but civil wars are fratricidal and abominably wicked. France, England, and America have been rent asunder by civil discord, and bled to the core through the evil of evils.
II. It creates social revolutions.
1. Kings are dethroned. The king of Israel shall utterly be cut off. Israel, like the dislocated state of Rome under the first emperors, was distracted by anarchy and usurpation. There was no legitimate succession of kings or priests, for they made both, but not through God. Each successor had the same right as his predecessor, the right of might, and furnished an example and precedent and sanction to the murder of himself or of his son. Monarchs are exalted and dethroned by political factions and civil broils. They rise suddenly from the ranks, crown themselves with honour, and are cut off in their projects. Sin creates wars which mingle royal blood with common gore, and starts revolutions which sweep monarchies and republics to destruction, like chaff before the storm.
2. Subjects are enslaved. Obedience to arbitrary power begets servility and slavery. Subsidies have been given for the loan or purchase of armies. Men have been hired to slaughter their fellow-men! The people have been reduced to bondage, intellectual, political, and moral degradation. Taxes, laws, and princes have fettered their freedom. Immorality and crime have undermined the health, and polluted the character of the people. The rule of the oppressor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food in fertile districts (Pro. 28:3).
III. It leads to cruel deeds. In the wickedness of Israel there was an essence of wickedness, malice within malice. This brought
1. The devastation of land. The day of battle spoiled all the fortresses of Israel. Their strongholds were taken by the enemy, and their fair cities levelled to the ground. Their land was swept by foreign invasion and domestic strife, filled with violence, and wasting and destruction within their borders (Isa. 60:18).
2. The murder of its inhabitants. With inhuman cruelty the mother was dashed to pieces upon her children. Neither sex nor age are spared by barbarity. Men like Herod have been ferocious as brutes. Nations ancient and modern have stained their names with crimes dark as hell. In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. Such are some of the ravages produced by sin. Wars which ravaged fields and sacked cities; kings dethroned and palaces plundered; people enslaved and virtue violated; families murdered and hearts broken in agony and despair; crimes arresting the pursuits of commerce and arts, extinguishing the lights of science and religion, and filling kingdoms with pestilence and murder. These and a thousand other evils spring directly or indirectly from the evil of all evils. That sin might appear exceeding sinful.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 10
Hos. 10:14-15. The evil of sin. It debases body, mind, and soul, robs of domestic peace and enjoyment, and spreads contagion all around. It is rebellion against God and injurious to man. Once all the evil in the world was comprehended in one sinful thought, but now its results are a horrid progeny of evils. Ambition. If kings would only determine not to extend their dominions until they had filled them with happiness, they would find the smallest territories too large, and the longest life too short, for the full accomplishment of so grand and noble an ambition [Colton].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(14) Then comes the crash of the thunder-peal. The prophet seems to hear the advance of the invading army, and see the fall of Samarias fortress.
Shalman.The references in the margin are not to the same historic event. The allusion is very obscure. Schrader (Keilinschriften, 2nd ed., pp. 440-2) suggests two theories: one that it refers to an episode in the campaign of Shalmaneser III. to the cedar country (Lebanon), in 775 B.C., or to Damascus in 773. He might then have penetrated into the Transjordanic country, and destroyed Arbela, near Pella (Beth-arbel). The other theory, that we have here a mention of the Moabitish king Salmanu, whose name occurs in Tiglath-pilesers inscription, is far-fetched and improbable. On the other hand, Geiger, following the hint of Jerome, identifies Shalman with Zalmunna (Jdg. 8:18; comp. Psa. 83:11). The kind of barbarity here referred to is illustrated by 2Ki. 8:12; Psa. 137:8-9.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘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.’
But let them not doubt that problems were just around the corner. For shortly there would be a tumult among the people (battle cries and war cries and the anguished cries of the wounded and defeated), and all their fortresses would be destroyed (compare the curse in Lev 26:33), just as they had been in north west Israel when ‘Shalman’ had destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle, and both mothers and children were dashed in pieces by the soldiery. Shalman may be a diminutive of Shalmaneser V of Assyria, although Shalmaneser’s name is usually given in full (but not in Hosea) . Or it may refer to a Moabite king named Salmanu (Assyrian – Salamani), mentioned in a tribute list of Tiglath Pileser III, who had seemingly gained notoriety for his merciless treatment of an Israelite town. An Arbela is mentioned in 1Ma 9:2 as on ‘the way that leads to Gilgal’ which may be in Galilee, which would support a reference to Shalmaneser.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 10:14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon [her] children.
Ver. 14. Therefore shall a tumult arise among the people, &c. ] Even among those mighty men, wherein ye trusted, shall there be seditious tumults, that shall soon bring all into a miserable confusion. Intestine commotions may undo a people, as a man may die of an inward bleeding. (Virg. Aeneid. lib. 1),
“ Ac veluti in magno populo cum saepe coorta est
Seditio, saevitque animis ignobile vulgus. ”
When the multitude is in a rage they are like to a tiled house that is on fire (saith one), there is no coming near the house, the tiles do so fly about your face; so it is in tumults, there is no coming near to talk to them, to convince them; but they are ready to fly presently upon you. In Ket’s sedition, Dr Parker, in his sermon before the rebels, near Norwich, touched them for their misliving so near that they went near to touch him for his life. The rude rage of the rebels was such, that some, being disabled almost to hold up their weapons, would strive what they could to strike their enemies; others being thrust through the body with a spear, would run themselves farther, to reach those that deadly wounded them. Yea, boys were observed to be so desperately resolved, as to pull arrows out of their own flesh, and deliver them to be shot again by the archers on their side. There are none so insolent and cruel as the vilest of the people, when they are got together in a head. What havoc made the seditious in Jerusalem a little before the last destruction of it! the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy! Wat Tyler and his accomplices here! That rebel, held up by the many headed multitude, dared to say, that all the laws of England should come out of his mouth. The Hebrew word (
And all thy fortresses shall be spoiled
As Shalman spoiled Betharbel
“ Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo. ”
But this Shalman is by the best interpreters thought to be Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, in this prophet’s time. Shalman is vex truncata, a name cut off to the halves; a thing very ordinary in all the learned languages, as were easy to instance. See Isa 15:2 . Bamoth for Bamoth-Baal, Jos 13:17 . Chamath for Chamath-Dor. Hesiod puts B for B , Ennius hath Fabric for Fabricius. This Shalmaneser (or, as Luther will have it, some other great warrior called Shalman, not elsewhere mentioned in Scripture, but not unknown to the ten tribes) did cruel execution, it seems, upon Betharbel, a city beyond Jordan, /Apc 1Ma 9:2, like as Tamerlane (for a terror to the Greek empire, much whereof he afterwards subdued) did at Sebastia; where he made a merciless slaughter of all sexes and sizes; whereby he held the whole East in such awe, as that he was commonly called The wrath of God , and terror of the world. There are those who think this Arbel to be the same as that Arbela, where Alexander defeated Darius, and won the Persian monarchy. They make it a city or country of Assyria, beneath Arpad, and hinted at by Rabshakeh, 2Ki 18:34 . “Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?” sc. Shalmaneser hath utterly destroyed them. See 2Ki 15:29 ; 2Ki 17:24 ; 2Ki 19:13 . Arbel is by some interpreted the city of Bel, where Belus or Baal was worshipped. By others Betharbel is interpreted as the house of the ensnaring god, the god of policy or subtilty. It seemed to them that the people of this place had a god that they thought would ensnare and ensnarl all their enemies; but it proved much otherwise.
For, the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Shalman. Sayce thinks he is Salamanu, king of Moab, a tributary of Tiglath-Pileser III (Compare Hos 1:1); therefore a contemporary of Hosea.
Beth-arbel. Hebrew. Beth-‘arbeel = house of the ambush of GOD (Hebrew El. App-4. IV). Hebrew margin reads Beth-‘arbel, so as to disguise the name El and avoid the supposed offensive expression.
the mother, &c. Compare Hos 13:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
shall a: Hos 13:16, Isa 22:1-4, Isa 33:14, Amo 3:8, Amo 9:5
and all: 2Ki 17:16, 2Ki 18:9, 2Ki 18:10, Jer 48:41, Nah 3:12, Hab 1:10
as: 2Ki 18:33, 2Ki 19:11-13
the mother: Hos 13:16, Gen 32:11, Isa 13:16-18, Jer 13:14, Nah 3:10
Reciprocal: Deu 22:6 – thou shalt not 1Sa 22:19 – men 2Ki 8:12 – dash 2Ki 17:3 – Shalmaneser Psa 137:9 – and dasheth Isa 17:3 – fortress Isa 17:9 – General Jer 20:16 – let him Jer 48:13 – as the Hos 9:13 – shall Hos 11:6 – the sword Amo 3:14 – I will Amo 5:5 – seek Mat 2:16 – and slew
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 10:14. The tumult threatened was to be the result of the Assyrian invasion. Shalnian is another form for Shalmaneser the Assyrian king who came against Israel in a hostile manner and finally overcame the nation (2Ki 17:3).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
10:14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as {s} Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon [her] children.
(s) That is, Shalmaneser in the destruction of that city spared neither type nor age.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Because the Israelites trusted in their own army, turmoil rather than tranquillity would mark their life. Their fortresses would suffer destruction rather than protecting the Israelites from destruction. Hosea compared this future loss to one in Israel’s past, but what past event is uncertain.
"Shalman" may refer to King Shalmaneser III, an Assyrian who conducted campaigns in the West in the ninth century B.C. Another identification of "Shalman" is King Salamanu, a Moabite ruler who was a contemporary of King Hoshea of Israel, whose name appears in a list of kings who paid tribute to the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. [Note: Ellison, pp. 140-41.] A third possibility is the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V who prepared the way for Israel’s captivity by invading the land (cf. 2Ki 17:3-6). [Note: See Harper, p. 358.] "Beth-arbel" could refer to the town of Arbela about 18 miles southeast of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee) or to Mt. Arbel two miles west of that sea. In any case, the battle had been a bloody one that the Israelites of Hosea’s day remembered vividly. The enemy had slaughtered mothers and their children without mercy.