For now they shall say, we have no king – These are the words of despair, not of repentance; of people terrified by the consciousness of guilt, but not coming forth out of its darkness; describing their condition, not confessing the iniquity which brought it on them. In sin, all Israel had asked for a king, when the Lord was their king; in sin, Ephraim had made Jeroboam king; in sin, their subsequent kings were made, without the counsel and advice of God; and now as the close of all, they reflect how fruitless it all was. They had a king, and yet, as it were, they had no king, since, God being angry with them, he had no strength to deliver them. And now, without love, the memory of their evil deeds crushes them beyond hope of remedy. They groan for their losses, their sufferings, their fears, but do not repent. Such is the remorse of the damned. All which they had is lost; and what availed it now, since, when they had it, they feared not God?

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 3. We have no king] We have rejected the King of kings; and had we any king, he would be of no service to us in this state, as he would be a captive like ourselves; nor could we have the approbation of God, as we now justly lie under his displeasure.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

For; surely. Now; ere long.

They shall say; see, and feel, and be convinced too of this truth. We have no king; either no king at all, as in an interregnum, or no such king as we expected and hoped: our dependence was much upon the wise, valiant, and successful conduct of our king; but he is either less wise and valiant, or less successful in his enterprises.

Because we feared not the Lord; worshipped not, kept not his law, depended not on God, therefore we have no king, or one next to none, not able to help us.

What then should a king do to us? and now if we had our king, were he as powerful, wise, and successful as Jeroboam the Second, yet it would be too late, the Assyrian power hath so far prevailed, and God is so far departed from us: kings are not able to save without the God of kings.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. now, c.Soon they, deprivedof their king, shall be reduced to say, We have no king (Hos 10:7Hos 10:15), for Jehovah deprivedus of him, because of our not fearing God. What then (seeing God isagainst us) should a king be able to do for us, if we had one? Asthey rejected the heavenly King, they were deprived of their earthlyking.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For now they shall say, we have no king,…. This they would say, either when they had one; but by their conduct and behaviour said they had none; because they had no regard unto him, no affection for him, and reverence of him; but everyone did what was right in his own eyes: or during the interregnum, between the murder of Pekah, which was in the twentieth year of Jotham, and the settlement of Hoshea, which was in the twelfth of Ahaz; see 2Ki 15:30; or when the land of Israel was invaded, and their king was shut up in prison, and Samaria besieged, so that it was as if they had no king; they had none to protect and defend them, to sally out at the head of them against the enemy, and fight their battles for them; or rather when the city was taken, the altars broke down, their images spoiled, and they and their king carried captive:

because we feared not the Lord: did not serve and worship him, but idols; and this sin, casting off the fear of the Lord, was the source and cause of all their troubles and sorrows; of the invasion of their land; of the besieging and taking their city, and having no king to rule over them, and protect them:

what then should a king do to us? if they had one, he could be of no service to them; for since they had offended God, the King of kings, and made him their enemy, what could an earthly king, a weak mortal man, do for them, or against him? it was now all over with them, and they could have no expectation of help and deliverance.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

He explains more at large what he had briefly referred to, when he said, that the condemnation, which would discover their wickedness, was now near at hand. He now adds, that even they themselves would, of their own accord, say, that they were deservedly punished in being deprived of a king; nay, that a king would avail them nothing, because they had not feared Jehovah. There is always to be understood a contrast between the perverse boasting of the people and the feeling of God’s wrath, of which the Prophet now speaks. For as long as God spared the Israelites, they abused his forbearance and his kindness. They did not then think that there was any thing to be reprehended in their life; nay, we know how petulantly they contended with the Prophets: as soon as a severe word came out of the mouth of any Prophet, great contentions arose. “What! dost thou treat thus the people of God, and the elect race of Abraham?” Since, then, they so obstinately spurned every instruction, the Prophet says here, “The time shall come, when they shall say that they have no king, because they did not fear the Lord.” The meaning is, that as they did not profit by the word of the Lord, another kind of teaching was soon to be adopted; for the Lord would really show his wrath, and even force them to confess against their will what they now excused: for this confession of sin would have never been expressed, had not the Lord dealt severely with them. They shall therefore say, — when? even when they shall be taken to another school; for the Lord will not henceforth remonstrate with them in words, but will so strike them with his hand, that they will understand that they have to do with him.

But it must be observed, that the Prophet speaks not here of the repentance of the people, nor relates their words, but rather mentions the thing itself. Hypocrites either clamour against God when he visits their sins, or feignedly own that they are worthy of such punishments, and all the while the same perverseness remains within. But when the Prophet introduces them as speaking, he does not mean that they will say what he relates; but, as I have said already, he rather speaks of the thing itself. Hence They will say, that is, the event itself will declare, that they are deprived of a king, because they feared not Jehovah; yea, that though a king ruled over them, he would be useless. Though, then, the Israelites had never ceased to clamour against God, nor given over openly to vomit forth their blasphemies against him, yet this, which the Prophet says, would have been still true. How so? Because it was sufficient that they were in reality convicted, though God had not extorted from them this confession; yea, they were themselves made to feel that they were justly smitten by the hand of God, however they might obstinately deny this before men.

The Prophet shows here also, that profane men, while any hope on earth is set before them, proudly despise the hand of God, and grow torpid in their own security, as in their own dregs. While Israel saw their king in the midst of them, they thought themselves safe from every harm, and boldly despised all threatening. This, then, is what the Prophet meant. Still further, when the Lord takes away every thing that dazzles the eyes of profane and wicked men, they then begin to own how foolishly they had flattered themselves, and how much they had been deceived by Satan. This is what is meant by Hosea, when he says, that the Israelites shall be constrained to know that they had no king, because they feared not God: but this repentance would be too late, for it would be without advantage. It now follows —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(3) To us.Better, as for a king, what will he do for us? The prophet having witnessed a succession of Israelite kings overthrown, and anarchy as its consequence, predicts yet another time of confusion and helplessness, a full vindication of the threatenings of the prophet Samuel. (Comp. 1Sa. 8:19.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘Surely now will they say,

“We have no king.

For we do not fear YHWH,

And the king, what can he do for us?”

But their response will be to declare a reckless independence. They will declare, ‘We have no king’ with the implication that they are free to do as they like, and this because they no longer fear YHWH as their King, while their own king is too tied up in political affairs to bother them. All law and restraint has been abandoned, religious restraint and political restraint have both been set aside. They have rejected the kingship of YHWH, Baal allows them to do what they like and the king is too busy to take any notice.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Hos 10:3. For now, &c. Surely presently shall they say, We have no king, because we feared not the JEHOVAH; and a king, what could he do for us? “After Israel shall be brought into captivity, and shall have no king over their nation, they shall then acknowledge that this misfortune has happened to them through their own fault, and because they have not feared the Lord. They shall acknowledge, that it would profit them nothing to have kings, without having also the protection of God.” See Calmet.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Hos 10:3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

Ver. 3. For now they shall say, We have no king ] sc. to do us good; he is no better to us now than a king of clouts: he cannot protect us, or deliver us out of the hand of our enemies. If we cry unto him, as she did, “Help, O king”; he must needs answer as there, “If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?” 2Ki 6:26-27 . Vain is the help of man now that God sets against us. Feared him we have not, and now help us he will not. Est ergo interrogatio negantium et desperantium, saith Rivet. This is the question not of penitentiaries (as Lyra thinketh) but of such as despair, and deny that help can be had either from God, whom they have slighted, or from their king, who is over matched; as Asa was by the Ethiopians, when he came forth against them with an army of five hundred thousand, but was encountered by an army of a thousand thousand, the largest, I think, that we read of in the Book of God, 2Ch 14:11 , and was therefore fain to cry, “Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest in thee: and in thy name, not in our own strength, we go against this multitude.”

Because we feared not the Lord ] We trembled not at his word, as Hos 9:17 , and now it hath taken hold of us, Zec 1:6 ; See Trapp on “ Zec 1:6 “ By our profaneness we have enraged God against us; by our creature confidence we have made him our enemy; and now, all too late, we acknowledge our impiety, we bewail our folly; for what should a king do to us? what can he do for us, more than weep over us, as Xerxes did over his army? cry Alas Alas that great city Babylon, &c., as those kings, her paramours, Rev 18:9-10 , wish they had never reigned; as Adrian, Felix si non imperitassesset. Once the cry of this people was, Nay, but we will have a king, and they had him; but no such great joy of him. After that again, they would have a king of their own choosing, Jeroboam, I mean; and he proved a singular mischief to them, as did likewise all his successors. They doted upon a king, and put their trust in princes; but they soon found that in them there was no help, Psa 146:3 , that they could not rescue them out of the punishing hands of the King of kings, the living God.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Hos 10:3-10

3Surely now they will say, We have no king,

For we do not revere the LORD.

As for the king, what can he do for us?

4They speak mere words,

With worthless oaths they make covenants;

And judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

5The inhabitants of Samaria will fear

For the calf of Beth-aven.

Indeed, its people will mourn for it,

And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it,

Over its glory, since it has departed from it.

6The thing itself will be carried to Assyria

As tribute to King Jareb;

Ephraim will be seized with shame

And Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel.

7Samaria will be cut off with her king

Like a stick on the surface of the water.

8Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed;

Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars;

Then they will say to the mountains,

Cover us! And to the hills, Fall on us!

9From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;

There they stand!

Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?

10When it is My desire, I will chastise them;

And the peoples will be gathered against them

When they are bound for their double guilt.

Hos 10:3 We have no king This may reflect 1Sa 8:4-9. Hosea often speaks against the northern monarchy (cf. Hos 7:3-7; Hos 8:4; Hos 8:10; Hos 8:13; Hos 13:9-11). The original dynasty (Jeroboam I) did not last. There were numerous changes in leadership (i.e., king).

Hos 10:4 They speak mere words, With worthless oaths they make covenants This is a COGNATE ACCUSATIVE, emphasizing that they speak (BDB 150, KB 210, Piel PERFECT) human words with no meaning (cf. Isa 58:13). This contrasted their oaths/covenant to YHWH (cf. Exodus 19-20) with their oaths/covenants to foreign powers. Israel’s oaths cannot be trusted. They are based solely on self interest.

The second line of poetry has two INFINITIVE ABSOLUTES. This construction draws attention to this second line and not the VERB of line one.

judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds This may refer to the injustice of the judges (cf. Amo 2:6; Amo 5:12; Amo 6:12).

Hos 10:5 Samaria Samaria, the mountain ridge fortress, was built by Omri (cf. 1Ki 16:24) and became Israel’s capital. After 922 B.C., when the kingdom split, the Northern Ten Tribes under Jeroboam I were known as Israel, Ephraim, or Samaria, and the Southern two tribes, under Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, were known as Judah.

NASBwill fear

NKJVfear

NRSV, NJBtremble

TEVwill be afraid

NET Biblewill lament

The Hebrew VERB (BDB 158, KB 185, Qal IMPERFECT) means to dread. This VERB can mean reverential respect (i.e., worship) or fear (i.e., it being taken away, cf. Hos 10:5-6). Many scholars suppose an emendation based on the parallelism to lament (BDB 626).

the calf of Beth-aven This refers to the golden calf that Jeroboam I set up at Bethel (cf. Hos 4:15; Hos 5:8; 1Ki 16:28-29). The golden calves (Bethel and Dan) were not meant to be idols, but representatives of YHWH (cf. Exo 32:4-5). The term Beth-aven (BDB 110), which is translated house of vanity, is a word play on Bethel (house of God). This is an example of Jews corrupting a name (god or place) because of its association with idolatry.

NASB, NRSVidolatrous priests

NKJVits priests

TEVthe priests who serve the idol

NJBits idol-priests

This refers to the priests at the royal sites of Bethel and Dan being addressed as Ba’al’s priests (cf. 2Ki 23:5; Zep 1:4).

These Hebrew consonants kmr have several meanings.

1. to be warm (or blackened) BDB I

2. to be black (from Syriac) BDB II

3. to lay prostrate, BDB III

4. a snare or net

These consonants are the regular term for priests in Canaan and Akkadian. These priests of the north were seen by Hosea as foreign priests!

NASBcry out over it

NKJVshriek for it

NRSVwail over it

NRSV

(footnote)exult (Hebrew)

TEVwill weep over it

NJBthey exult in its glory

The MT has will rejoice (BDB 162, KB 189, Qal IMPERFECT), but it may be used in sarcasm.

its glory This term (BDB 458 II) is usually used of YHWH (cf. 1Sa 4:21-22), but here it is used in a sarcastic sense of a calf-idol that originally was meant to represent YHWH, but had long since come to represent Ba’al. See Special Topic: Glory .

Hos 10:6 King JaREB This seems to be a reference to Tiglath-pileser III. It is literally a metaphor meaning the Great King, literally a king that contends (BDB 937, cf. Hos 5:13).

Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel The VERB (BDB 202, KB 116, Qal IMPERFECT) is used also in Hos 2:5; Hos 4:19. Idolatry made them ashamed.

Their faulty counsel (BDB 420) was mentioned earlier in Hos 7:12 (cf. Jer 7:24). There have been several other suggested options for counsel.

1. its disobedience

2. its wooden idol (cf. Hos 10:5)

The NASB, NKJV, NRSV, TEV, and NJB have wooden idol.

Hos 10:7 Samaria will be cut off with her king The VERB (BDB 198, KB 225, Niphal PERFECT) means to remove, to destroy (cf. Hos 10:8). YHWH allowed a northern king because of the arrogance of Rehoboam, but he did evil in His sight by setting up the golden calves. Now He will remove him in His wrath (cf. Hos 13:11).

NASBLike a stick on the surface of the water

NKJVLike a twig on the water

NRSV, TEVLike a chip on the face of the waters

NJBLike a straw drifting on the water

The Hebrew here is very difficult. It can refer to a piece (twig or splinter) of wood (BDB 893 II, cf. Joe 1:7) or foam (Vulgate).

Hos 10:8 the high places of Aven This means vanity or nothingness (BDB 19). This term is often applied by the Jews as a word play to corrupt place names and the names of people who were involved in idolatry.

The high places can refer to (1) the top of hills (i.e., threshing floors) or (2) the raised, cut stone altars of local Ba’al shrines (cf. Hos 4:13).

Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars This may be a reference to a curse (cf. Gen 3:18) or a sign of non-use (cf. Hos 9:6).

say to the mountains,

Cover us!’ And to the hills Fall on us’ The first VERB (BDB 491, KB 487) is a Piel IMPERATIVE. The second VERB (BDB 656, KB 709) is a Qal IMPERATIVE. This is used in Luk 23:30 and Rev 6:16 as an expression of the horror at God’s judgment. Here there may be a theologicl connection between mountains and hills and Ba’al worship.

Hos 10:9 From the days of Gibeah you have sinned This could be another anti-monarchial statement because this was Saul’s hometown and the site of his first sin against God (cf. 1Sa 13:8-14). It could also be a reference to the sins recorded in Judges 19-21.

When it is My desire This phrase (BDB 16) has no VERB. It seems to be a way to express God’s will (i.e., judgment).

Hosea, the second writing prophet, depicts God in very emotional (anthropomorphic) metaphors.

1. wild beast, Hos 5:14; Hos 13:7-8

2. hate, Hos 9:15

3. strong desire to judge, Hos 10:10

4. anger, Hos 11:9; Hos 13:11

Human language describing God is always metaphorical and analogical. Humans are sinful, temporal, and restricted to this planet. Our vocabulary and mental ability cannot fathom an eternal, holy, personal being!

I will chastise them The VERB (BDB 415, KB 418, Qal IMPERFECT) generally means educate or inform (morally) by discipline. Here it refers to discipline (i.e., judgment) because of covenant violations.

the peoples will be gathered God will gather (BDB 62, KB 74, Pual PERFECT) the nations (BDB 766) to judge His people.

double guilt Literally this is two of their iniquities. The phrase double guilt comes from the Septuagint, Peshitta, and Vulgate. It could refer to (1) a play on the name Ephraim (double fruitful); (2) the two sins of following Ba’al and forsaking YHWH (cf. Jer 2:13); or (3) the golden calves set up at Bethel and Dan.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

do to us: do for us, or, profit us.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

We have: Hos 10:7, Hos 10:15, Hos 3:4, Hos 11:5, Hos 13:11, Gen 49:10, Mic 4:9, Joh 19:15

Reciprocal: 1Sa 12:25 – ye and 2Ki 15:30 – and smote Eze 19:14 – she hath Hos 13:10 – where

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Hos 10:3. This verse is a prediction that Israel was to be deprived of a king. It was fulfilled when the Assyrians took the ten tribes into captivity as recorded in 2 Kings 17. What then should a king do to usf The words are put into the mouths of the Jews by the Lord, signifying that it would do them no good to have a king as long as they had no fear for the Lord.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

10:3 For now they shall say, We have no {d} king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

(d) The day will come that God will take away their king, and then they will feel the fruit of their sins, and how they trusted in him in vain; 2Ki 17:6-7 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Judgment on Israel’s political symbol 10:3-8

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

When the Lord brought destruction, the people would realize that their self-appointed king had failed them and that they did not respect the Lord. They would acknowledge that no human king could help them. Hoshea would prove to be Israel’s last king, and perhaps he was already on the throne when Hosea gave this prophecy.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)