Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 12:5
Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD [is] his memorial.
5. Even the Lord God of hosts, &c.] The Hebrew runs more abruptly, ‘And Jehovah’ &c., i.e. ‘and the name of Him who spoke with Jacob is Jehovah.’ ‘Jehovah’ to the prophets conveys the ideas of almightiness, unchangeableness, and faithfulness (comp. Isa 41:4; Mal 3:6). ‘God of Hosts’ is a title specially characteristic of the regal period; the hosts were (1) the stars, (2) the armies of Israel (see the commentators on Isa 1:24).
his memorial ] i.e. his name; comp. Exo 3:15 ‘This is my memorial unto all generations.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Even the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is His memorial – The word, here as translated and written Lord, is the special and, so to say, the proper Name of God, that which He gave to Himself, and which declares His Being. God Himself authoritatively explained its meaning. When Moses inquired of Him, what he should say to Israel, when they should ask him, what is the Name of the God of their fathers, who, he was to tell them, had sent him to them, God said … I Am That I Am … thus shalt thou say, I Am (EHYeH) hath sent me unto you; and God said again unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord (literally, He is, YeHeWeH , God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; This is My Name forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations Exo 3:13-15.
I am, expresses self-existence; He who alone is. I am that I am, expresses His unchangeableness, the necessary attribute of the Self-existent, who, since He is, ever is all which He is. To Be, says Augustine , is a name of unchangeableness. For all things which are changed, cease to be what they were, and begin to be what they were not. True Being, pure Being, genuine Being, no one hath, save He who changeth not. He hath Being to whom it is said, Thou shalt change them and they shall be changed, but Thou art the Same. What is, I am that I am, but, I am Eternal? What is, I am that I am, save, I cannot be changed? No creature, no heaven, no earth, no angel, nor Power, nor Throne, nor Dominion, nor Principality. This then being the name of eternity, it is somewhat more, than He vouchsafed to him a name of mercy, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. That, He is in Himself, this, to us.
If he willed only to be That which he is in Himself, what should we be? Since Moses understood, when it was said to him, I am that I am, He who is hath sent me unto you, he believed that this was much to people, he saw that this was far removed from people. For whose hath understood, as he ought, That which is, and which truly is, and, in whatever degree, hath even transiently, as by a lightning flash, been irradiated by the light of the One True Essence, sees himself far below, in the utmost farness of removal and unlikeness. This, the Self-existent, the Unchangeable, was the meaning of Gods ancient Name, by which He was known to the patriarchs, although they had not in act seen His unchangeableness, for theirs was a life of faith, hoping for what they saw not. The word, He is, when used of Him by His creatures, expresses the same which He says of Himself, I AM. This He willed to be His memorial forever. This the way in which He willed that we should believe in Him and think of Him as He who is, the Self-existing, the Self-Same.
The way of pronouncing that Name is lost . The belief has continued, wherever the Lord is named. For by the Lord we mean the Unchangeable God. That belief is contradicted, whenever people use the name Jehovah, to speak of God, as though the belief in Him under the Old Testament differed from that of the New Testament. Perhaps God allowed it to be lost, that people might not make so familiar with it, as they do with the word Jehovah, or use it irreverently and in an anti-Christian manner, as some now employ other ways of pronouncing it. The Jews, even before the time of our Lord, ordinarily ceased to pronounce it. In the translations of the Old Testament, and in the Apocrypha, the words, the Lord, were substituted for it. Jewish tradition states, that in later times the Name was pronounced in the temple only, by the priests, on pronouncing the blessing commanded by God in the law . On the great Day of Atonement, it was said that the high priest pronounced it ten times , and that when the people heard it, they fell on their faces, saying, Blessed be the glorious name of His kingdom forever and ever . They say, however, that in the time of Simeon the Just (i. e., ), Jaddua, who died about 322 b.c., the high priests themselves disused it, for fear of its being pronounced by some irreverent person .
Our Lord Himself sanctioned I the disuse of it, (as did the inspired Apostles yet more frequently,) since, in quoting places of the Old Testament in which it occurs, He uses instead of it the Name, the Lord . It stands, throughout the Old Testament, as the Name which speaks of God in relation to His people, that He ever is; and, since He ever is, then He is unchangeably to us, all which He ever was, The Same, yesterday and today and forever Heb 13:8.
He then who appeared to Jacob, and who, in Jacob, spake to all the posterity of Jacob, was God; whether it was (as almost all the early fathers thought ), God the Son, who thus appeared in human form to the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, and in the time of the Judges, under the name of the Angel of the Lord, or whether it was the Father. God Almighty thus accustomed man to see the form of Man, and to know and believe that it was God. He it was, the prophet explains, the Lord, i. e., the Self existent, the Unchangeable, Who was, and is and is to come Rev 1:4, Rev 1:8, who alone is, and from whom are all things , the Fullness of Being, both of His own, and of all His creatures, the boundless Ocean of all which is, of wisdom, of glory, of love, of all good.
The Lord of Hosts – that is, of all things visible and invisible, of the angels and heavenly spirits, and of all things animate and inanimate, which, in the history of the Creation, are called the host of heaven and earth Gen 2:1, the one host of God. This was the way in which He willed to be had in mind, thought of, remembered. On the one hand then, as relates to Ephraims sin, not by the calves, nor by any other created thing, did He will to be represented to peoples minds or thoughts. On the other hand, as relates to Gods mercies, since He, who revealed Himself to Jacob, was the unchangeable God, Israel had no cause to fear, if he returned to the faith of Jacob, whom God there accepted. Whence it follows;
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 12:5
Even the Lord God of hosts; the Lord is his memorial.
The name Jehovah as a memorial
To stir them up to present duty, Hosea describes God, who did all this, and spake to Jacob, as the true God and God of armies. It teaches–
1. Christ is, without all controversy true God, the same in essence and equal in power and glory with the Father; for this Angel (verse 4) is even Jehovah, the God of hosts.
2. Great is their advantage and their dignity who have converse and keep communion with God, who hath being of Himself, and who hath all creatures ready as hosts at His command, as there is need. For this sets out Jacobs advantage, that in his wrestlings and other intercourse he had to do with the Lord God of hosts.
3. God is unchangeably still the same, as kind, able, and exorable to His people as ever He was at any time, if they would come and make use of Him; for He did all that to Jacob, not only for present use, but that, proving Himself to be Jehovah, this might be His memorial for the use of His Church in all generations; and upon this ground it is that in the next verse they are exhorted to turn to Him. See Exo 3:15.
4. The Lord needs no images to keep up a memorial of Him; but His name and nature are manifested in His word and works sufficiently to keep them who converse with these in remembrance of Him; for Jehovah, and His manifesting Himself to be so, is His memorial. (George Hutcheson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. The Lord is his memorial.] He is the same God as when Jacob so successfully wrestled with him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Even, or and, he that appeared and spake, who promised the blessing, and commanded the reformation at Beth-el, was
the Lord, Jehovah, the eternal and unchangeable God, who still promiseth with like commands.
God of hosts; who can both perform his promise and execute his threat, who is a most terrible enemy and most desirable friend, all being to us as he is.
The Lord, Jehovah, repeated for confirmation, is his memorial; by this he will be known, by this name, by such methods of his sovereignty and grace, Exo 3:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. Lord GodJEHOVAH,a name implying His immutable constancy to His promises. Fromthe Hebrew root, meaning “existence.” “He thatis, was, and is to be,” always the same (Heb 13:8;Rev 1:4; Rev 1:8;compare Exo 3:14; Exo 3:15;Exo 6:3). As He was unchangeablein His favor to Jacob, so will He be to His believing posterity.
of hostswhich Israelfoolishly worshipped. Jehovah has all the hosts (saba) orpowers of heaven and earth at His command, so that He is asall-powerful, as He is faithful, to fulfil His promises (Psa 135:6;Amo 5:27).
memorialthe nameexpressive of the character in which God was ever to be remembered(Ps 135:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Even the Lord God of hosts,…. The God Jacob had power over, the Angel he prevailed with, to whom he made supplication with weeping, and who spake with him and his in Bethel, is he whose name is Jehovah; who is the true and living God, the Lord of hosts and armies both in heaven and in earth; of all the angels in heaven, and the legions of them; and of the church militant, and all the saints, who are the good soldiers of Christ, his spiritual militia; and he is the Captain of the Lord’s host, and of their salvation, and to whom all the numerous hosts of creatures, be they what they will, are subject: this is observed, to set off the greatness of the person Jacob wrestled with, and his wondrous grace, in condescending to be overpowered by him:
the Lord [is] his memorial: or his name, Jehovah, which belongs to this angel, the Son of God, as to his divine Father; and which is expressive of his divine existence, of his eternity and immutability; this is his memorial, or the remembrancer of him; which puts his people in all ages in remembrance of him, what he is, what an infinite, almighty, and all sufficient Being he is; and he is always to be believed in, and trusted to, and to be served, adored, and worshipped. The Targum adds, to every generation and generation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos. 12:5. Lord] A name which implies constancy, by which God is distinguished and ever remembered (Exo. 3:15; Psa. 135:13).
HOMILETICS
THE MEMORIAL NAME.Hos. 12:5
When Jacob felt the power of his antagonist he asked, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. To those who neglect what is plain and useful, and pry into things which do not concern them, the revelation is withheld; but to the earnest petitioner God gives blessings and encouragement. Here the name is unfolded in significance and splendour.
I. The name in its absolute perfection. The Lord. Jehovah, the true and living God, distinguished from idols, and deserving the homage of his creatures.
1. Lord by creation. Greater proprietary right over us than we have over one another. The Lord our Maker.
2. Lord by redemption. This is a greater claim than creation. He had only to speak to make us; he suffered, gave his Son, to redeem us. Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.
3. Lord by choice. His people do not resist his claims, nor serve other gods. They willingly submit to him as their Master and Lord.
II. The name in its universal relation. God of Hosts. Of all things visible and invisible, of angels and heavenly spirits, of all creation, the host of heaven and earth (Gen. 2:1). This indicates
1. Supreme government. He has all power, directs and sustains all creatures, and rules all things by his own will.
2. Supreme order. Order is heavens first law. He keeps all things in subordination, and by him all things consist or stand together.
3. Constant obedience. He leads his people, his armies, organized and equipped, like Israel leaving Egypt. He reigns over them, enthroned in affection, and renders their service natural, pleasant, and delightful. A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master (Mal. 1:6).
4. Continual triumph. The hosts of the Lord are in a state of martial discipline, to contend for the cause and fight the battles of their captain. The cause of truth is a warfare. Christian life is fighting the good fight of faith. The world is a foe to the believer, and sin is deadly opposed to holiness. But the Lord God of hosts has omnipotent power and infinite resources. He will rule until all enemies are put under his feet.
III. The name in its continual manifestation. The Lord is his memorial. The name Jehovah expresses his nature, and will ever be what it has been, a memorial to men. God is ever to be remembered in his merciful and unchanging attributes (Exo. 3:15). We need no images nor unlawful helps to remind us of God. His works and ways declare his wisdom, truth, and love. He will be to us what he was to Jacob and Moses, and all his people the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. In this name lies a fulness and sufficiency which the exigencies of life will reveal. How little have we known of it in prayer and practical life! Seek to know more, and get hope, strength, and success in Christian work. Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever, and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
Hos. 12:5. God. When holy Augustine walked by the sea-side, wrapt in the meditation of God and of his ways, he heard a voice which bade him lade the ocean with a cockle-shell. We may sooner drain the ocean with such a shell, or with a spoon, than the perfections of God with our largest understandings [Caryl]. A king is there where his court is, where his train and retinue are; so God the Lord of Hosts is there specially present where the heavenly guard, the blessed angels, keep their station and rendezvous [Mede].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(5) Lord God of hosts.See Cheynes Isaiah, vol. 1, pp. 11, 12, and Nowacks commentary on this passage. Probably the hosts were the stars which were conceived of as celestial spirits standing upon or above Jehovahs throne in Micaiahs vision, on the right hand and on the left (1Ki. 22:19). These are to be identified, in all probability, with the sons of God (Gen. 6:2), described in Job. 1:6 as presenting themselves in council before Jehovah. In Psa. 103:21 they are described as Gods ministers; also in Psa. 104:4, quoted in Heb. 1:7.
His memoriali.e., his name. (See Notes on Exo. 3:15; Exo. 6:3.) Jehovahi.e., the self-existent One who nevertheless came into personal relations with Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 12:5. The Lord is his memorial The person, of whom it is here said, that the name Lord or JEHOVAH is his memorial, is no other than he whom the patriarch found at Beth-el, who there spake with the Israelites in the loins of their progenitor. He, whom the patriarch found at Beth-el, who there, in that manner, spake with the Israelites, was, by the tenor of the context, the antagonist with whom Jacob was afterwards matched at Peniel. The antagonist, with whom he was matched at Peniel, wrestled with the patriarch, as we read in the book of Genesis, (chap. Gen 32:24.) in the human form. The conflict was no sooner ended, than the patriarch acknowledged his antagonist as God, Gen 32:30. The holy prophet first calls him angel, malaak, Hos 12:4 and after mention of the wrestling or colluctation, and of the meeting and conference at Beth-el, says, (Hos 12:5.) that he, whom he had called angel, was JEHOVAH God of Hosts. And to make the assertion of this person’s godhead, if possible, still more unequivocal, he adds, that to him belonged, as his appropriate memorial, that name, which is declarative of the very essence of the godhead. This Man therefore of the book of Genesis, this Angel of Hosea, who wrestled with Jacob, could be no other than the JEHOVAH-ANGEL, of whom we so often read in the English Bible, under the name of the Angel of the Lord: a phrase of an unfortunate structure, and so ill-conformed to the original, that it is to be feared, it has led many into the error of conceiving of the Lord as one person, and of the Angel as another. The word of the Hebrew, ill rendered, the Lord, is not, like the English word, an appellative, expressing rank, or condition; but it is the proper name JEHOVAH. And this proper name Jehovah is not, in the Hebrew, a genitive after the noun substantive Angel, as the English represents it; but the words Jehovah and Angel, are two nouns substantive in apposition, both speaking of the same person; the one, by the appropriate name of the essence; the other, by a title of office. Jehovah-Angel would be a better rendering. The JEHOVAH-ANGEL of the Old Testament is no other than He, who, in the fulness of time, “was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Hos 12:5 Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD [is] his memorial.
Ver. 5. Even the Lord God of hosts ] Lo, he it is who promised, who spake with us at Bethel; even that Jehovah, who is himself unchangeable and Almighty; whose promises are eternal and infallible; who will perform with his hand what he hath spoken with his mouth, to the thousandth generation of those that return unto him. Concerning God’s name, Jehovah, See Trapp on “ Mal 3:6 “ Concerning his title, God of hosts, See Trapp on “ Mal 3:17 “ Doct. 1.
The Lord is his memorial
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Even, &c. Render: “and Jehovah [is] God (Elohim) of the Hosts; Jehovah [is] His memorial [Name]. “This is for strong confirmation.
memorial. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 3:15). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Even: Gen 28:16, Gen 32:30
is: Exo 3:15, Psa 135:13, Isa 42:8
Reciprocal: Gen 28:19 – the name Gen 48:16 – Angel Exo 3:2 – angel Num 22:22 – and the angel Jdg 13:21 – knew Job 16:20 – poureth Ecc 5:6 – before Zec 3:1 – the angel
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 12:5. Hosts means an army, especially the army of heaven, Lord is his memorial denotes that the holy name is that by which He is to be remembered.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Yahweh, the almighty God of armies, even Yahweh, spoke to all the Israelites when He spoke to Jacob at Bethel. He did this in that He intended the Israelites to learn from the experience of the patriarch.