Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 10:15
So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
15. So shall Beth-el, &c.] Such is the awful judgment of which the idolatry of Bethel is the cause.
your great wickedness ] Lit., ‘your wickedness of wickedness’, with which some compare the phrases ‘song of songs’, ‘holy of holies.’ But it is more natural to suppose that the word ‘wickedness’ was written twice over by accident.
in a morning ] Rather, in the dawn. The meaning is that when the morning-grey appears, the king will be found to be cut off. All has happened as quickly as time seems to have passed when we awake (comp. Psa 90:6, ‘they become as a sleep’).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So shall Bethel do unto you – God was the judge, who condemned them so to suffer from the enemy. The Assyrian was the instrument of the wrath of God. But, in order to point out the moral government of God, the prophet says, neither that God did it, nor that the Assyrian did it, but Bethel, once the house of God, now the place where they dishonored God, because of your great wickedness, literally, the wickedness of your wickedness. In their wickedness itself, there was an essence of wickedness, malice within malice.
In a morning shall the king of Israel be cut off – Hoshea was cut off finally, leaving neither root nor branch. His kingdom perished; he left no memorial. Like the morning, he seemed to dawn on the troubles of his people: he sinned against God: and in a morning, the kingdom, in the multitude of whose mighty men he trusted, was cut off forever.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. So shall Beth-el do unto you] This shall be the consequence of your idolatry.
In a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.] Suddenly, unexpectedly. Hoshea, the king of Israel, shall be cut off by the Assyrians. There are some allusions to facts in this chapter, which cannot be easily verified, as we have not sufficient acquaintance with the history of those times.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So; mercilessly and universally min.
Beth-el; one place put for every one, and the place put for the idolatry committed there.
Do; procure, bring your idolatry and sins, do all this evil against you.
Unto you, O Samaritans, and the rest of the ten tribes.
Because of your great wickedness: this idolatry, and the concomitant sins, are here summed up in their total sum,
great wickedness, exceeding great.
In a morning; suddenly, or so soon as it is day; possibly the Assyrians might assault the city towards morning, and master it.
Shall the king of Israel, Hoshea,
utterly be cut off; his power broken, for his life was spared, and he made a prisoner, 2Ki 17:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. So shall Beth-el do untoyouthat is, Your idolatrous calf at Beth-el shall be the causeof a like calamity befalling you.
your greatwickednessliterally, “the wickedness of your wickedness.”
in a morningthat is,speedily, as quickly as the dawn is put to flight by the rising sun(Hos 6:4; Hos 13:3;Psa 30:5).
kingHoshea.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So shall Bethel do unto you, because of your great wickedness,…. Or, “because of the evil of your evil” s; their extreme wickedness, and exceeding sinfulness; the evil of evils they were guilty of was their idolatry, their worshipping the calf at Bethel; and this was the cause of all their ruin: God was the cause of it; the king of Assyria the instrument; but the procuring or meritorious cause was their abominable wickedness at Bethel; which therefore should be as Betharbel; yea, the whole land should be, on the account of that, like unto it, or be spoiled as that was. Or the words may be rendered, “so will he do unto you, O Bethel” t; that is, either God, or Shalman or Shalmaneser, shall do the same to Bethel as he did to Betharbel; utterly destroy it and its inhabitants, showing no mercy to age or sex;
in a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off; meaning Hoshea the last king of Israel, and the kingdom entirely destroyed; so that afterwards there was no more king in Israel, nor has been to this day; there was not only an utter destruction of that king, but of all kingly power and government, and ever since the children of Israel have been without a king, Ho 3:4; and this was to be done, and was done, in a “morning”: in the beginning of his reign, as Joseph Kimchi; but this seems not so well to agree with the history, since it was in the ninth year of his reign that Samaria was taken: but the sense is, either that it would be certainly done, as sure as the morning came; or suddenly and quickly, as the morning light breaks forth; or in the morning of prosperity, when they were expecting light and good days, from their alliance with the king of Egypt, against the king of Assyria.
s “propter malitiam malitiae vestrae”, Pagninus, Cocceius, Schmidt. t – “sic faciet vobis, [Deus], O Bethel”, Drusius; “sic faciet vobis [Salman], O Bethel”, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We explained yesterday Hos 10:14, in which the Prophet denounced the vengeance of God on his people, such as they had experienced either when the country was laid waste by the army of Shalmanezar, or when some other slaughter was made. From the words, we certainly learn that a battle had been fought in Arbel, which was a town, as we have said, beyond Jordan. But the Prophet shows also how much had been the atrocity of that battle, and how grievous and dreadful would be that slaughter which he now threatens to the people, by saying that even the mother had been violently thrown upon her children. And the Prophet also shows that God’s vengeance would be just, because the Israelites had provoked God by their superstitions.
He then points out in the last verse the cause why the Lord would deal so severely with his people; and his manner of speaking ought to be observed. So, he says, shall Bethel do unto you He might have said, ‘So will God do unto you;’ but he more distinctly shows that the evil, or the cause of the evil, was in themselves; Bethel, he says, shall do this unto you. It is certain that the war did not arise from Bethel; but as they had corrupted the worship of God by worshipping the calf, the Prophet says, that the Assyrian was not, properly speaking, the author of this slaughter, but that it was to be imputed to that corruption which had arisen in Bethel. Bethel then shall do this unto you
But he adds, Because of wickedness — of your wickedness Some give this explanation, “Because of the wickedness of wickedness,” by which is expressed something extreme, as the genitive case is often used by the Hebrews in the place of the superlative degree; but it may be viewed as a simple repetition, “This shall be for wickedness — your wickedness, and it shall be so, that ye may not be able to transfer the blame to any other cause; for ye are yourselves the authors of all the evils.”
He says, in the last place, In a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off, or, by perishing shall perish. The Prophet means by these words, that the Lord would so punish the people of Israel, that it would appear plain enough, that it was not done by man or by chance; for the Lord would suddenly overturn that kingdom which had been so well fortified, which flourished so much in wealth and power. Cut off then in a morning, or in one morning, shall be the king of Israel. Some read, “as the morning,” instead of, “in a morning,” כשחר, cashicher, בשחר, beshicher. ‘The king of Israel shall perish like the dawn;’ for the dawn, we know, immediately disappears when the sun rises: the sun brings with it the full day, and then the dawn immediately passes away. But the other is the more correct reading, as it has also been more commonly received, that is, “In a morning, or in one morning, shall the king of Israel perish;” as we say in French, Cela n’est que pour un desiuner For that proud people thought that no adversity could happen to them for many years, as they had a blind confidence in their own strength. The Prophet derides this madness, and says, that the slaughter would be sudden, that the king would in a moment be destroyed, though he thought himself well supplied with soldiers and all other defences. Now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) King . . . Cut off.The close of the kingdom (721 B.C.), already more than once referred to (comp. Hos. 10:7), is here prophesied. Translate, So shall He do to you at Bethel.
In the morning.Should be, in the early morning Hoshea was utterly cut off, leaving neither root nor branch.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘So shall Beth-el do to you because of your great wickedness,
At dawn will the king of Israel be utterly cut off.’
The same treatment will be meted out to them by Bethel. In other words, because of their great wickedness carried out at Bethel, Bethel would bring destruction on them, and the king of Israel would be utterly cut off ‘at daybreak/dawn’. The cutting off of the king would usually be the signal of utter defeat. If it refers to Hoshea it was indeed ‘at dawn’, prior to ‘the day’ of the siege of Samaria, for he went out to meet the king of Assyria before the siege commenced, presumably in order to parley and was arrested as a rebel.
We should note how deeply YHWH felt the wickedness of the people. They were ‘grossly wicked’ (Hos 9:15; Hos 10:15); ‘guilty’ (Hos 10:2); ‘exceedingly sinful’ (Hos 10:8-9); ‘wayward’ (Hos 10:9); ‘iniquitous’ (Hos 10:10); ‘wicked’ Hos 10:13; ‘grossly deceitful’ (Hos 10:13). And this has been emphasised by the examples drawn from the past, the sin of Baal-peor (Hos 9:10); the sin of Gibeah (Hos 10:9); evil at Gilgal (Hos 9:15); the sin of Bethel (e.g. the calves of Jeroboam I). All that was bad in the past could also be laid at their door.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 10:15. So shall Beth-el do unto you “This is the fruit of your worshipping the golden calves at Beth-el. As it has happened to the city above mentioned, so shall it happen to you, because of your iniquities.” Houbigant reads the verse, after the LXX, So shall it be done unto you, O house of Israel, for the wickedness of your counsels; and with the Vulgate he ends the chapter here: but ours seems the more proper division.
In a morning, &c. As the morning is brought to nothing, to nothing shall the king of Israel be brought. 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 is much more sudden in the tropical; and in all it is one of the most complete that Nature presents.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Still the sins of the people, and the judgments of God, are the burden of the prophesy.
1. Their sins are charged upon them.
[1.] They are destitute of all goodness. Israel is an empty vine, of no profit to the owner: he bringeth forth fruit unto himself; he thinks not of advancing God’s glory, but his own; and his earthly good things are not spent in God’s service, but consumed on his lusts, or in the worship of idols; and he is therefore an empty vine, being thus impoverished and exhausted.*
* The reader will be pleased to recollect, that in my Reflections I almost always consider the text according to our public English Version.
[2.] They are devoted to idolatry. According to the multitude of his fruit, as his riches increased, he hath increased the altars, &c. thus turning God’s gifts against him, and abusing his blessings to the vilest purposes. Note; We too often see an increase of wealth abused to the increase of wickedness, instead of being employed as a more enlarged opportunity put into men’s hands of serving God’s cause, and doing good in their generation.
[3.] Their heart is divided; among themselves factions rage, and sects dispute about the preference of idols; or rather, their heart is divided between God and the calves. Now shall they be found faulty, this halting between both being highly criminal, for a divided heart God abhors; or they shall be desolated with his judgments.
[4.] They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; perjured and profane, making no conscience of oaths or leagues; and, on the very seat of judgment, injustice and oppression sat enthroned. Thus judgment, which should have been administered with impartiality as a medicine, through false witnesses, and a corrupt magistracy, springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field; baleful and poisonous, perverted to the greater loss or ruin of the injured: and God will visit for these things, and avenge the quarrel of those who are oppressed with wrong.
2. Their punishments are denounced.
[1.] They shall say, We have no king; as bad as none, when justice was so ill administered; or they were really without a king, through the frequent assassinations of their monarchs; or having none able to protect them from their enemies; or, as at the last, when they and their king together were led captives into Assyria: because we feared not the Lord, which was the source of all their miseries; what then should a king do to us? If they had one, he could afford them no protection from the judgments of the eternal King whom they had provoked. As for Samaria, the metropolis of Israel, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. In prophetic language, what shall be is spoken of as already done; Hoshea, the last king, being doomed to fall, weak as the froth which flies on the surface, and easily broken, as the bubbles, before the Assyrian army.
[2.] Their idols shall be destroyed, and be as little able to help them as their king. He shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images; the Assyrian monarch shall do it, the rod of God’s indignation. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven; for them, lest they should be seized by the enemy; or for themselves, as if, now that they were taken, the land would be left defenceless; for the people thereof shall mourn over it; of Beth-aven, or the worshippers of the calves in general shall lament their loss, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it; who shall grieve, as particularly interested for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it, and no more surrounded with crowds of worshippers; or the glory of Beth-aven is now departed, their calf being gone. It shall also be carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb, as a trophy of victory over Samaria and her gods. Ephraim shall receive shame, when they see their idols demolished, and their folly in trusting them manifested: and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel, in paying divine worship to such vanities. The high places also of Aven, of iniquity, the scenes where their idolatries were committed, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars, being left in ruins, and unfrequented; and in their bitter distress they, the people who were wont to worship there, shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us; as if seeking even under them a covert from their miseries, and desiring to be hidden from the wrath of God. Note; (1.) When we make any creature our idol, God justly breaks it down, and leaves us to mourn our folly. (2.) When the day of vengeance comes, in vain does the sinner cry to rocks and mountains to hide him from the wrath of the Lamb.
2nd, The prophet,
1. Reminds them of their wickedness, committed in a constant series from the days of their predecessors. From the days of Gibeah, when the Levite’s concubine was so atrociously abused, thou hast sinned; continued in the practice of such abominations; or, more than the day of Gibeah, exceeding them in iniquity: there they stood, with daring effrontery, on their defence. The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them: in the first two engagements they were victorious, and at last six hundred men made their escape (see another interpretation in the Critical Notes): but as the sin of Israel now exceeded theirs, the battle should overtake them; notwithstanding their present prosperity in iniquity.
2. God will visit them. It is in my desire that I should chastise them; on this he determined; and the people shall be gathered against them, as Israel was of old against Benjamin; when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows, fortified with a double entrenchment: or, they shall bind them; their enemies shall yoke them as oxen, to plough their ground: or, when I shall bind them for their two transgressions; their forsaking God for idols, and their corporal and spiritual adultery. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught to plough, and bear the yoke, to submit to God’s commands; but with reluctance yielded her neck; and loveth rather to tread out the corn, where the can eat to the full, than labour in the furrows of obedience: but I passed over upon her fair neck; put a yoke upon it. I will make Ephraim to ride, or cause to ride on Ephraim; the Assyrians shall have dominion over them. Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods; being brought into bondage by their conquerors. Some give a very different sense of the words, as speaking the kind care of God in teaching his penitent returning people, and the gentle methods that he took to engage their obedience; as one strokes the heifer’s neck to encourage her, and bring her to the yoke. He laid then his institutions upon them, and set them to their work, that they might bring forth fruit abundantly to his glory and their own comfort. And to this sense the following words seem applicable; which contain,
3. An exhortation to righteousness, prayer, and repentance. Sow to yourselves in righteousness; walk in all holy conversation and godliness, in the practice of every good word and work, which will bring their own reward: reap in mercy; spiritual and also everlasting life being to the faithful the reward, not of debt, but of grace; break up your fallow ground; for such is the heart of man; being naturally hard, unprofitable for any good fruit, overrun with the briers and thorns of corrupt affections, and needs to be broken up by an humbling conviction of our sinfulness, guilt, and misery, that the seed of divine grace may spread and grow, and bring forth abundantly: for it is time to seek the Lord, whose blessing alone can prosper the seed sown, till he come and rain righteousness upon you; give us that Spirit of righteousness, without whom we have no power to produce it. Ye have ploughed wickedness; toiled hard in the service of sin; and an Egyptian task-master had they found it. Ye have reaped iniquity; a plenteous harvest of evil, both of guilt and punishment: ye have eaten the fruit of lies; disappointed in their expectations, and finding nothing of that sweetness and satisfaction which they promised themselves; because thou didst trust in thy way, on idol confidences, or heathen alliances; and in the multitude of thy mighty men; their own armies and garrisons, which were poor defences against the wrath of God, which they had provoked; and thus will all the confidence and comforts of the sinner assuredly disappoint his hopes.
4. An utter destruction awaits them. Therefore, because of their sins and vain confidences, shall a tumult arise among thy people, from insurrections at home, and the invasion of the Assyrian army: and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, so that they should find no place of refuge; as Shalman (the same probably as Salmaneser) spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle; a well-known transaction in that day, where the place was sacked, the people most inhumanly massacred; the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children; and such would be their case; so shall Beth-el do unto you, because of your great wickedness; particularly their idolatry committed at Beth-el, which would bring down the like fearful vengeance upon them. Or, so will he do unto you, O Bethel; commit the same ravages in this chief seat of idolatry. In a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off; certainly and speedily as the morning returns; or, when they think the day of prosperity and liberty is dawning upon them, then shall their king Hoshea be cut off, and all the nation perish with him. Note; Whatever miseries we feel or fear, whether national or personal, respecting our bodies or our souls, they all spring from the same cause; sin, sin is the deadly root of bitterness.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
READER! it is very blessed, in reading these scriptures of the Old Testament, to behold how the figures made use of are explained under the New. Our emptiness as a vine, and the plowing of the heart in wickedness, are strong representations to what is really the case of every man by nature, when the fallow ground is not turned by God, and the whole man remains unregenerated and unrenewed by grace. But when the soul is made sensible of this, and under divine teaching is led to behold the infinite preciousness of Jesus; then the poor awakened sinner feels the whole three of the Prophet’s words, and finds it to be high time indeed to sow in righteousness, and to reap the rich mercy of God’s free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ! Reader! it will be no small improvement of this Chapter, if by God the Holy Ghost’s gracious influence, so much in Israel’s emptiness and transgression we discover, as to be made sensible of our own; and from such a conviction of our nothingness, the all-sufficiency and suitableness of the Lord Jesus is discovered; for then we shall gladly flee from all creature dependencies, to take refuge in Creator strength; and feeling what we are in ourselves by nature, most earnestly rejoice in what we are made by grace. Such views will tend to endear Christ to the heart; and form him there the only hope of glory.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 10:15 So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
Ver. 15. So shall Bethel do unto you ] i.e. The idolatry that you have committed at Bethel, by a synedoche of the place, this shall undo you. Or, So shall he do unto you, O inhabitants of Bethel. Bethel shall be made a Betharbel. They that take not example by others shall be made an example to others. Lege historiam, ne fias historia.
Because of your great wickedness
In a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off
“ Accidit in puncto, quod non speratur in anno. ”
“It happend in a monbecause it was not kfor in that year.”
Contrarily, the saints at evening time have light, Zec 14:7 . See Trapp on “ Zec 14:7 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
your great wickedness. Hebrew “evil of your evil”. Note the Figure of speech Polyptoton (App-6), Hebrew. ra’a’.
in a morning. Some codices, with two early printed editions (one Rabbinic, margin), read “like the dawn”.
shall the king of Israel. Compare Hos 10:7, The king referred to may be Hoshea.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
shall Bethel: Hos 10:5, Amo 7:9-17
your great wickedness: Heb. the evil of your evil, Rom 7:13
in: Hos 10:3, Hos 10:7, Isa 16:14
Reciprocal: 2Ki 2:23 – Bethel 2Ki 15:30 – and smote Isa 9:14 – in one day Jer 48:13 – as the Hos 5:1 – for Hos 13:16 – their infants Amo 3:14 – I will Amo 5:5 – seek
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 10:15. The reference to Bethel is because of the idol that was set up there by Jeroboam (1Ki 12:29), which started the 10-tribe kingdom on its national record of idolatry. Bethel do unto you denotes that the ruin of the nation was to be as a chastisement for its constant worship of idols, beginning with the one placed at Bethel. Morning is used figuratively, meaning that the king of Israel would be overthrown in a short time after his country was invaded.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The Israelites would suffer a similar slaughter at Bethel because of their great wickedness. "Bethel" here may refer to the town or to the whole nation of Israel (by metonymy, cf. Hos 10:7).
"Since her destruction would occur ’when that day dawns’ (meaning the very beginning of the day of battle), it is noteworthy that Israel’s final king, Hoshea, was taken captive by the Assyrian conqueror Shalmaneser V before the actual siege of Samaria began." [Note: Wood, "Hosea," p. 211.]