Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:3
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
3. shall the land mourn ] Or, ‘doth continually mourn’, for the prophet speaks amidst the anarchical and revolutionary scenes which followed upon the death of Jeroboam II. A severe drought is represented as the punishment of Israel’s misdoings. Nature, throughout the prophetic literature, sympathizes with man’s sins and sorrows. Comp. Isa 24:3-6, Amo 8:8; Jer 12:4; Joe 1:18 (where render at end ‘suffer punishment’).
with the beasts ] Better, both, &c. (lit. ‘in’, i.e. whether consisting of or of ).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore shall the land mourn – Dumb inanimate nature seems to rejoice and to be in unison with our sense of joy, when bedewed and fresh through rain and radiant with light; and, again, to mourn, when smitten with drought or blight or disease, or devoured by the creatures which God employs to lay it waste for mans sins. Dumb nature is, as it were, in sympathy with man, cursed in Adam, smitten amid mans offences, its outward show responding to mans inward heart, wasted, parched, desolate, when man himself was marred and wasted by his sins.
With the beasts of the field – Literally, in the beasts, etc. God included the fowl and the cattle and every beast of the field in His covenant with man. So here, in this sentence of woe, He includes them in the inhabitants of the land, and orders that, since man would not serve God, the creatures made to serve him, should be withdrawn from him. General iniquity is punished by general desolation.
Yea, the fishes of the sea also – Inland seas or lakes are called by this same name, as the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. Yet here the prophet probably alludes to the history of mans creation, when God gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over every living thing (chaiah) Gen 1:28, in just the inverse order, in which he here declares that they shall be taken away. There God gives dominion over all, from lowest to highest; here God denounces that He will take away all, down to those which are least affected by any changes. Yet from time to time God has, in chastisement, directed that the shoals of fishes should not come to their usual haunts. This is well known in the history of seacoasts; and conscience has acknowledged the hand of God and seen the ground of His visitation. Of the fulfillment Jerome writes: Whose believeth not that this befell the people of Israel, let him survey Illyricum, let him survey the Thraces, Macedonia, the Pannonias, and the whole land which stretches from the Propontis and Bosphorus to the Julian Alps, and he will experience that, together with man, all the creatures also fail, which afore were nourished by the Creator for the service of man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 4:3
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish.
The social causes of human misery
It is a principle illustrated by the holy records, that when immorality has thoroughly infected a state, in defiance of all warning and ordinary discipline, it is given up to destruction, as was Sodom, and also many of the most renowned empires of ancient times. Nothing is more certain and calculable in action and result than are social evils and social virtues. To inquire into their nature and operation is the way to discover a remedy for a most serious evil, and to furnish the most powerful motives for its rigorous and incessant application. There is much misery in the world. A primary cause of it is to be found in man himself. We are not to blame society, or social relations in any of their forms, for all the evils that exist in, and seem to be developed by them. Man, by his very constitution, is a social creature. The depravity of man, both as the judicial result of his sin, and as aggravated by his habits both of thought and sensual indulgence, insinuates itself into all that he does, and corrupts every relation into which he enters. Each relation, therefore, however fitted to produce and increase his happiness, is found to contribute something to his misery, and presents to the observer some new form and modification of human suffering. Consider the common relations of human society.
I. The political. If justice were enthroned in every heart there would be no necessity for any political economy. The authority of God in every mans conscience would render all human government totally unnecessary. Government as a human institution can be traced no higher than to the necessities that spring from the fall. So long as government is the administration of justice- the agency by which wrong and outrage are repressed and punished–it must contribute in a most effectual manner to the good of a community. It is not because of this relation between the governor and governed that political evils exist. When the governor ceases to be the administrator of justice at all, and when the abettors of wrong obtain power and influence, then righteousness is hurled from her throne, and law trampled in the mire under the feet of a lawless and licentious mob. The ruin of a state has generally commenced with the corruption of its government. The amount of calamity and woe inflicted on our species by corrupt and despotic governments forms too serious an item to be passed over in silence.
II. The causes of human misery operating through the medium of the relations of commerce. These we take in their most extensive sense, including the intercourse and the arrangements, agreed upon generally, for conducting the manufacturing and mercantile depart ments of trade. The morals of trade, it is to be feared, are but indefinite at the best. Gain is the object pursued; but the means of acquiring it are as various as the dispositions and amount of principle felt by the candidates will admit. There are certainly parts of the economy of trade that require attention and no slight measure of reform. There is much of suffering and unhappiness observable in the commercial relations of life; and these may be clearly traced either to causes originating in something defective in the moral principles on which the economy of trade is based, or in the dispositions of those who take a part in conducting its several departments. Illustrate from the relation of master and servant, of the employer and the employed. Late hours; time for payment of wages; speculation; getting out of temporary difficulties by giving accommodation bills, etc.
III. The causes of human misery in the relations of friendship and private society.
1. Society has its temptations, and these, if not carefully watched, may lead us into much evil. One of the first consequences of a fondness for society is the diminished fervour of the domestic affections. Another temptation is a love of display. A certain indolence too is generally induced by the kind of social intercourse to which we are now referring.
2. Society has its actual vices. What so pernicious as envy? Consider the conventional estimate formed of the character of vices, such as gambling. There never was a day in which the debauching indulgence of the appetites was so inexcusable as the present. The cure of all the evil and misery is the adoption of the principle and rule,–Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (J. Robinson.)
A terrible deprivation
A deprivation that comes upon the people in consequence of their heinous iniquities.
I. A deprivation of both material and spiritual good.
1. Of material good.
(1) Health. Sin is inimical to the bodily health and vigour of men and nations; it insidiously saps the constitution.
(2) Means of subsistence. Reference is to one of those droughts that occasionally occur in the East, and is ever one of the greatest calamities. How soon the Eternal can destroy our means of subsistence l
2. Of spiritual good. Their presumptuous guilt was as great as that of one who refused to obey the priest when giving judgment in the name of Jehovah (Deu 17:12). One of the greatest spiritual blessings of mankind is the strife and reproof of godly men. What a derivation for these to be taken away!
II. A deprivation leading to a terrible doom.
1. The destruction of both priests and people. The meaning is that no time, night or day, shall be free from the slaughter both of the priests and of the people. This was literally true of the Ten Tribes at this time.
2. The destruction of the social state. And I will destroy thy mother. Who was the mother? The Israelitish state. And it was destroyed. (Homilist.)
With the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven.
The sharers in Divine judgment
The Lords sentence or threatening for these sins is that extreme desolation shall come, not only on the people, but on the land, and on all the creatures for their sakes, even on the fishes which were in lakes and ponds in the land. Doctrine–
1. The judgments of God upon the visible Church will be very sad and grievous, when they are inflicted, and as universal as sin hath been.
2. Albeit the Lords judgments on sinful and impenitent people do at first utterly consume them, yet that will be only that they may live awhile to feel their own miseries, and then be consumed by them, if they repent not.
3. Sinful man is a great enemy to all the creatures, as well as to himself; he makes both himself and them to mourn and pine away, because he will not mourn indeed.
4. As the glory of all the creatures is but a flower, which God will soon make to wither and languish when He pursueth for sin, so the creatures will not help man when God is angry at him; but as these draw him from God, so God is provoked to cut him short in them, as here they are consumed with him. (George Hutcheson.)
All creatures share the calamities of sin
As beasts, birds, and fishes, and in a word, all other things, have been created for the use of men, it is no wonder that God should extend the tokens of His curse to all creatures, above and below, when His purpose is to punish men. When God curses innocent animals for our sake, we then dread the more, except, indeed, we be under the influence of extreme stupor. (John Calvin.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Therefore shall the land mourn] Fruitful seasons shall be denied.
That dwelleth therein shall languish] Endemic and epidemic disorders shall prevail, and multitudes shall die; so that mourning shall be found in all quarters.
The beasts of the field, and with the fowls] There is a death of cattle and domestic animals, in consequence of the badness of the season.
The fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.] Those immense shoals which at certain seasons frequent the coasts, which are caught in millions, and become a very useful home supply, and a branch of most profitable traffic, they shall be directed by the unseen influence of God to avoid our coasts, as has frequently been the case with herrings, mackerel, pilchards, c. and so this source of supply and wealth has been shut up, because of the iniquities of the land.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore, since their sins are so many and so great, for those very sins already mentioned in the 1st and 2nd verses,
shall the land, which the ten tribes did now inhabit, mourn: it is a metaphorical expression, for properly it cannot be spoken of the senseless and inanimate creatures; but as men and women mourn under the loss of their comforts and joys, as they neglect themselves in their habits, and go less neat, so when the sins of the people shall bring an enemy upon the land, when war shall first spoil their cities, towns, vineyards, and oliveyards, and finally shall carry the people captive, all shall run into horrid and saddest state, and into doleful plight. The same expression see in Isa 24:4, and much like Amo 1:2.
Every one that dwelleth therein; no sort of men but had provoked God and sinned, no sort but should be punished; all that continue in the land till these threatened judgments overtake them.
Shall languish; shall with grief and vexation pine away; what they see with their eye shall make their heart ache, and faint with greatest dejectedness and despair, as the word imports, Isa 16:8; Joe 1:12.
With the beasts of the field: these are elsewhere menaced, Zep 1:2, which see. God punisheth man in cutting off what was made for mans benefit and comfort; and it is probable that the tamer cattle were starved for want of grass or fodder, all being eaten up and consumed by the wasting armies.
With the fowls of heaven; the tamer and innocent either killed by enemies, or, offended with stench and noxious air, die or forsake the country, or are devoured by eagles and birds of prey, which in those countries wait on armies.
Yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away; whether by drying up the waters of rivers, lakes, and ponds, or by corrupting them with blood and carcasses, or by what other way we know not, he can do it, who saith he will; and we are sure it speaks the greatness of the threatened desolation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. land . . . languish(Isa 19:8; Isa 24:4;Joe 1:10; Joe 1:12).
seaincluding allbodies of water, as pools and even rivers (see on Isa19:5). A general drought, the greatest calamity in the East, isthreatened.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore shall the land mourn,…. Because of the calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through a violent drought; or the grass and corn being trodden down, or eaten up, by a foreign army:
and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish; that is, every man, an inhabitant thereof, shall become weak, languish away, and die through wounds received by the enemy; or for want of food, or being infected with the wasting and destroying pestilence:
with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; the one shall die in the field for want of grass to eat, and the other shall drop to the earth through the infection of the air:
yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away; or “gathered” p; to some other place, so as to disappear; or they shall be consumed and die, as Kimchi interprets it; and as all these creatures are for the good of men, for sustenance, comfort, and delight, when they are taken away, it is by way of punishment for their sins. So the Targum,
“the fishes of the sea shall be lessened for their sins.”
p “congregabuntur”, V. L.; “collgentur”, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
These crimes bring the land to ruin. Hos 4:3. “Therefore the land mourns, and every dweller therein, of beasts of the field and birds of the heaven, wastes away; and even the fishes of the sea perish.” These words affirm not only that the inanimate creation suffers in consequence of the sins and crimes of men, but that the moral depravity of men causes the physical destruction of all other creatures. As God has given to man the dominion over all beasts, and over all the earth, that he may use it for the glory of God; so does He punish the wickedness of men by pestilences, or by the devastation of the earth. The mourning of the earth and the wasting away of the animals are the natural result of the want of rain and the great drought that ensues, such as was the case in the time of Ahab throughout the kingdom of the ten tribes (1Ki 17:18), and judging from Amo 1:2; Amo 8:8, may have occurred repeatedly with the continued idolatry of the people. The verbs are not futures, in which case the punishment would be only threatened, but aorists, expressing what has already happened, and will continue still. (every dweller therein): these are not the men, but the animals, as the further definition shows. is used in the enumeration of the individuals, as in Gen 7:21; Gen 9:10. The fishes are mentioned last, and introduced with the emphasizing , to show that the drought would prevail to such an extent, that even lakes and other waters would be dried up. , to be collected, to be taken away, to disappear or perish, as in Isa 16:10; Isa 60:20; Jer 48:33.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Prophet now expresses more clearly the dispute which he mentions in the first verse; and it now evidently appears, that it was not a judgment expressed in words, for God had in vain tried to bring the people to the right way by threats and reproofs: he had contended enough with then; they remained refractory; hence he adds, “Now mourn shall the whole land”; that is, God has now resolved to execute his judgment: there is therefore no use for you any more to contrive any evasion, as you have been hitherto wont to do; for God stretches forth his hand for your ultimate destruction. Mourn, therefore, shall the land, and cut off shall be every one that dwells in it, as I prefer to render it; unless the Prophet, it may be, means, that though God should for a time suspend the last judgment, yet the Israelites would gain nothing, seeing that they would, by continual languor, pine away. But as he mentions mourning in the first place, the former meaning, that God would destroy all the inhabitants, seems more appropriate. He adds, gathered shall they be all, or destroyed, (for either may suit the place,) from the beast of the field, and the bird of heaven, to the fishes of the sea. The Prophet here enlarges on the greatness of God’s wrath; for he includes even the innocent beasts and the birds of heaven, yea, the fishes of the sea. When Godly vengeance extends to brute animals, what will become of men?
But some one may here object and say, that it is unworthy of God to be angry with miserable creatures, which deserve no such treatment: for why should God be angry with fishes and beasts? But an answer may be easily given: As beasts, and birds, and fishes, and, in a word, all other things, have been created for the use of men, it is no wonder that God should extend the tokens of his curse to all creatures, above and below, when his purpose is to punish men. We seek, indeed, for the most part, some vain comforts to delight us, or to moderate our sorrows when God shows himself angry with us: but when God curses innocent animals for our sake, we then dread the more, except, indeed, we be under the influence of extreme stupor.
We now then understand why God here denounces destruction on brute animals as well as on birds and fishes of the sea; it is, that men may know themselves to be deprived of all his gifts; as when a person, in order to expose a wicked man to shame, pulls down his house and burns his whole furniture: so also does God do, who has adorned the world with so much and such varied wealth for our sake, when he reduces all things to a waste: He thereby shows how grievously offended he is with us, and thus constrains us to become humble. This then is the Prophet’s meaning.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) The mourning of the land is the judgment of famine, which follows not only upon the living men, but upon all living things (the LXX. have introduced into the enumeration the creeping things of the earth). Even the fishes of the sea are swept away. There is plague on fish as well as murrain on cattle, and starvation of the birds of heaven.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. As a result the land is suffering a terrible calamity.
Shall mourn The Hebrew tenses might be rendered as futures announcing calamity to come (so E.V.); it is more probable, however, that the prophet is thinking of a present calamity, future judgments being announced later in the chapter. The verbs should therefore be rendered, in perfect accord with the Hebrew grammar, does mourn, does languish, are taken away. The calamity seems to be a drought, from which men and beasts suffer. The last clause shows the extent of the drought.
The sea When the large bodies of water dry up the rivers and lakes do the same; then the fishes can live no more.
Taken away Perish (Isa 16:10; Isa 60:20, etc.).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Therefore will the land mourn, and every one who dwells in it will languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, yes, the fishes of the sea also will be taken away.’
The consequence of all this will be that the land itself will suffer, and everyone in it will languish, to such an extent that it will have a major effect on the wild animals, the birds, and the fish. The affecting of the fish would appear to be an indication of heavy drought. Invasions usually pass fish by (unless, of course, the invaders are partial to fish). So the problems coming on Israel will be environmental as well as man-caused.
There may well be the intention here of pointing out that the people of Israel have failed in their responsibility for watching over creation (compare Psa 8:7-8; Gen 1:30). Even the creatures whom they are responsible for will suffer. It is as though creation itself is being reversed because of their behaviour.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 4:3. Therefore shall the land mourn, &c. Desolation, drought, and dearth shall come upon the whole land; shall consume both men, and beasts, and fowls, and shall even extend itself to the inhabitants of the waters.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here the Lord follows the sins of his people with his threatened punishments. And it is not the smallest in the account, that the priest and Prophet shall have no weight with the people. Where the Lord gives not the understanding heart, the labours of both are but in vain. Psa 127:1-2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 4:3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
Ver. 3. Therefore shall the land mourn ] Here the Lord proceeds to give sentence; and it is dreadful indeed. Lugebit terra, languebit incola, &c. You will not mourn, therefore your land shall; the ugly face of your sin shall appear in the miserable desolation of your country. “There is no truth, mercy, or knowledge of God in your land”; which even groans under your burden, its axle spokes being ready to break; therefore it shall be eased of you, by my sore, and great, and strong sword, which shall soon make work among you, and lay all waste. And as God’s red horse of war is followed by the black horse of famine, and that black one by the pale horse of pestilence, Rev 6:4-5 ; Rev 6:8 , so shall it be here. As by swearing and lying, &c., you have broke out, so shall my whole wrath break out upon you as a mighty torrent. As blood hath touched blood, so punishment shall follow hard upon sin; for these two are knit together with chains of adamant, saith the poet. “If thou do evil, sin lies at the door,” saith God, Gen 4:7 , that is, supplicium imminer, idque proximum et praesentissimum, saith Junius there. Evil shall hunt the wicked man to destroy him: his sin shall find him out as a blood hound, and haunt him as a hell hag. Where iniquity breaks fast calamity will be sure to dine; to sup where it dines, and to lodge where it sups. No sooner had man sinned but the earth was cursed for his sake, Gen 3:17-18 . It was never beautiful nor cheerful since. At this day it lies bedridden, and looks to be burnt up shortly with her works, 2Pe 3:10 . Here it is brought in as a mother in mourning, bewailing the loss of all her children, and refusing to be comforted. And surely though the land be eased of a very heavy burden, as I have said, when purged by God’s just judgments of her ungrateful and wicked inhabitants; yet because she lies under the dint of Divine displeasure at such a time, therefore is she rightly said to mourn in this case, and to be in a sad, disconsolate condition, see Jer 12:4 she becomes a very Ahil (that is the word here used, see Jdg 11:33 ), a Bochim, a Hadadrimmon, an Irisland; and being desolate, she mourneth unto thee: for she seeth that her convulsions are like to end in a deadly consumption.
And every one that dwelleth therein shall languish
With the beasts of the field
And the fowls of the air
And the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Therefore shall the land mourn. Compare Jer 4:28, and Jer 12:4. Amo 5:16, and Amo 8:8.
the beasts = the very beasts (Beth essentioe).
be taken away = be gathered [into the ranks of the mourners].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the land: Isa 24:4-12, Jer 4:27, Joe 1:10-13, Amo 1:2, Amo 5:16, Amo 8:8, Nah 1:4
with the beasts: Jer 4:25, Jer 12:4, Eze 38:20, Zep 1:3
Reciprocal: Gen 6:7 – General Gen 7:21 – General Num 35:33 – it defileth Jdg 18:20 – heart Jer 4:28 – the earth Jer 9:10 – both Jer 14:2 – mourneth Jer 21:6 – I will Jer 23:10 – full Eze 11:6 – General Eze 14:17 – so that Joe 1:18 – General Amo 9:5 – and all Rom 8:20 – the creature
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 4:3. God sometimes punishes his people by sending some curses upon the land, and this verse is a warning that something of that kind would come upon the nation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 4:3. Therefore shall the land mourn Desolation, drought, and dearth shall come upon the whole land; shall consume both men, and beasts, and fowls, and shall even extend itself to the inhabitants of the waters. A land is said, in Scripture language, to mourn, when it is deprived of its inhabitants, or lies desolate. A great part of the land of Israel was made thus desolate by Tiglath-pileser, and the rest by Shalmaneser. There may also be a reference to the drought foretold by Amo 1:2, or to the locusts, mentioned chap. Hos 5:7. Every one that dwelleth therein shall languish If any one remain therein, he shall languish for want of the proper necessaries of life. With the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven Even the beasts and birds shall pine away with want; not only the fruits of the earth, but the herbs and grass also, being eaten up or spoiled by the enemies armies. Yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away The fishes of the rivers and great waters, called seas in the Hebrew language, shall be killed through drought, or so diminished that they shall not supply the wants of this rebellious people: see Zep 1:3.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Therefore God was not blessing Israel but was bringing curses on the land so every part of the Northern Kingdom suffered, every living thing. Drought seems to be the primary form of chastisement in view (cf. Lev 26:19; Deu 28:23-24).