Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 6:11
Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
Also, O Judah, He hath set a harvest for thee, when I returned – (rather, when I return) the captivity of My people.
The harvest may be either for good or for bad. If the harvest is spoken of, as bestowed upon the people, then, as being of chief moment for preserving the life of the body, it is a symbol of all manner of good, temporal or spiritual, bestowed by God. If the people is spoken of, as themselves being the harvest which is ripe and ready to be cut down, then it is a symbol of their being ripe in sin, ready for punishment, to be cut off by Gods judgments. In this sense, it is said of Babylon, Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come Jer 51:33; and of the pagan, put ye in the sickle, for their harvest is ripe, for their wickedness is great Joe 3:13; and of the whole earth, the harvest of the earth is ripe Rev 14:15. Here God must be speaking of a harvest, which he willed hereafter to give to Judah. For the time of the harvest was to be, when He should return the captivity of His people, restoring them out of their captivity, a time of His favor and of manifold blessings.
A harvest then God appointed for Judah. But when? Not at that time, not for a long, long period, not for any time during the life of man, but at the end of the captivity of 70 years. God promises relief, but after suffering. Yet He casts a ray of light, even while threatening the intermediate darkness. He foreshows to them a future harvest, even while their coming lot was captivity and privation. Now Judah, His people, was entangled in the sins of Ephraim, and, like them, was to be punished. Suffering and chastisement were the condition of healing and restoration. But whereas the destruction of the kingdom of Israel was final, and they were no more to be restored as a whole, God who loveth mercy, conveys the threat of impending punishment under the promise of future mercy. He had rich mercies in store for Judah, yet not until after the captivity, when He should again own them as My people. Meantime, there was withdrawal of the favor of God, distress, and want.
The distinction between Judah and Israel lay in the promise of God to David. The Lord hath sworn in truth to David, He will not turn from it; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne Psa 132:11. It lay in the counsels of God, but it was executed through those who knew not of those counsels. The ten tribes were carried away by the Assyrians into Media; Judah, by Nebuchadnezzar, into Babylon. The Babylonian empire, which, under Nebuchadnezzar, was the terror of Asia, was but a continuation of the Assyrian, being founded by a revolted Assyrian general. . The seat of empire was removed, the policy was unchanged. In mans sight there was no hope that Babylon would give back her captives, anymore than Assyria, or than the grave would give back her dead. To restore the Jews, was to reverse the human policy, which had removed them; it was to re-create an enemy; strong in his natural position, lying between themselves and Egypt, who could strengthen, if he willed, their great rival.
The mixed multitude of Babylonians and others, whom the king of Assyria had settled in Samaria, in their letter to a successor of Cyrus, appealed to these fears, and induced the impostor Smerdis to interrupt the restoration of Jerusalem. They say; We have sent and certified the king, that search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers. So shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time, for which cause was this city destroyed Ezr 4:14-15. The king did find in his records, that Judah had been of old powerful, and had refused the yoke of Babylon. I commanded, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition hath been made therein. There have been mighty kings over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river, and toll, tribute, and custom, hath been given to them Ezr 4:19-20.
Conquerors do not think of restoring their slaves, nor of reversing their policy, even when there is no constraining motive to persevere in it. What is done, remains. This policy of transplanting nations, when once begun, was adopted, as a regular part of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian policy . Yet no case is known, in which the people once removed were permitted to return, save the Jews. But God first foretold, that Cyrus should restore His people and build His temple; then, through peoples wills He ordered the overthrow of empires. Cyrus overcame the league against him, and destroyed first the Lydian, then the Babylonian, empire. God then brought to his knowledge the prophecy concerning him, given by Isaiah 178 years before, and disposed his heart to do, what Isaiah had foretold that he should do. Cyrus made his proclamation throughout all his kingdom.
The terms were ample. Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is the God) which is in Jerusalem Ezr 1:3. The proclamation must have reached the cities of the Medes, where the ten tribes were. But they only, whose spirit God had raised, returned to their land. Israel remained, of his own free will, behind; and fulfilled unwittingly the prophecy that they should be wanderers among the nations, while in Judah the Lord brought again the captivity of His people, and gave them the harvest which He had appointed for them. A Psalmist of that day speaks of the strangeness of the deliverance to them. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream Psa 126:1, Psa 126:5. And primarily of that bringing back the captivity of His people, he uses Hoseas image of the harvest. They which sow in tears shall reap in joy. To the eye of the politician, it was an overthrow of empires and convulsion of the world, the herald of further convulsions, by which the new-established empire was in its turn overthrown. In the real, the religious, history of mankind, of far greater moment were those fifty thousand souls, to whom, with Zorobabel of the line of David, Cyrus gave leave to return. In them he fulfilled prophecy, and prepared for that further fulfillment, after his own empire had been long dissolved, and when, from the line of Zorobabel, was that Birth which was promised in Bethlehem of Judah.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 6:11
Also, O Judah, He hath set an harvest for thee.
Naturalness of retribution
Divine punishment for sin is elsewhere spoken of as a harvest.
I. Retribution is natural in its season. There are the appointed weeks of harvest. These weeks come round with an undeviating regularity. Punishment comes to the sinner naturally, so far as the proper time is concerned. In this life the sinner has many harvests. Every transgression is a seed, and the seed sometimes grows rapidly and ripens fast.
II. That retribution is natural in its results. In harvest, the man reaps the kind of seed he has sown, whatever it may be, barley or wheat. Also as a rule the amount; if he has sown sparingly he reaps sparingly, if with abundance he will reap abundantly. He gets what he wrought for. It is just so in the retributive ministry of God. Hence he will never be able to blame either God or His creation for his wretched destiny, he reaps the fruit of his own doings.
III. The retribution is natural in its approach. As soon as the seed is sown and germination begins, it proceeds slowly and silently from day to day, week to week, and month to month, towards maturition, its harvest state. It is just so with sin, it proceeds naturally to work out its results. Lust, when it is conceived, bringeth forth sin; sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (Homilist.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee] Thou also hast transgressed; thy harvest will come; thou shalt be reaped down and sent into captivity. The sickle is already thrust in. That which thou hast sowed shalt thou reap. They who sow unto the flesh shall reap corruption.
When I returned the captivity of my people.] Bp. Newcome translates, “Among those who lead away the captivity of my people.” There is thy harvest; they who have led Israel into captivity shall lead thee also into the same. The Assyrians and Babylonians were the same kind of people; equally idolatrous, equally oppressive, equally cruel. From the common reading some suppose this to be a promise of return from captivity. It is true that Judah was gathered together again and brought back to their own land, but the majority of the Israelites did not return, and are not now to be found.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This verse is confessedly very dark to interpreters, who agree not whether Judah be vocative or nominative; or who it is that setteth, whether Ephraim, Judah, or God; or what captivity is here meant, whether one past or to come: the conciseness of our prophet makes him very obscure.
Also, O Judah; or also Judah, i.e. as Israel is polluted, and must expect to be chastised; or, O Judah, thou art like polluted Israel in sin, and mightest be every way like in punishment.
He hath set an harvest for thee; but thy God hath appointed a harvest for thee, thou shalt not as Israel be utterly cut off, a seed of thee shall be sowed, and thou shalt reap the harvest with joy.
When I returned; when I shall return, rather, so it looks to what is to come; or else, forasmuch as I will turn
the captivity of my people, the house of Judah.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. an harvestnamely, ofjudgments (as in Jer 51:33;Joe 3:13; Rev 14:15).Called a “harvest” because it is the fruit of the seedwhich Judah herself had sown (Hos 8:7;Hos 10:12; Job 4:8;Pro 22:8). Judah, under Ahaz,lost a hundred twenty thousand “slain in one day (by Israelunder Pekah), because they had forsaken the Lord God of theirfathers.”
when I returned the captivityof my peoplewhen I, by Oded My prophet, caused two hundredthousand women, sons, and daughters, of Judah to be restored fromcaptivity by Israel (2Ch28:6-15). This prophecy was delivered under Pekah [LUDOVICUSDE DIEU].MAURER explains, WhenIsrael shall have been exiled for its sins, and has been subsequentlyrestored by Me, thou, Judah, also shalt be exiled for thine. But asJudah’s punishment was not at the time when God restoredIsrael, LUDOVICUS DEDIEU’S explanation must betaken. GROTIUS translates,”When I shall have returned to make captive (that is,when I shall have again made captive) My people.” The firstcaptivity of Israel under Tiglath-pileser was followed by a secondunder Shalmaneser. Then came the siege of Jerusalem, and the captureof the fenced cities of Judah, by Sennacherib, the forerunner ofother attacks, ending in Judah’s captivity. But the Hebrew iselsewhere used of restoration, not renewed punishment(Deu 30:3; Psa 14:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee,…. That is, God hath set and appointed a time of wrath and vengeance for thee, which is sometimes signified by a harvest, Re 14:15; because thou hast been guilty of idolatry also, as well as Ephraim or the ten tribes: or rather it may be rendered, “but, O Judah” h, he, that is, God, hath set an harvest for thee; appointed a time of joy and gladness, as a time of harvest is:
when I returned, or “return” i,
the captivity of my people; the people of Judah from the Babylonish captivity; so that here is a prophecy both of their captivity, and of their return from it: and it may be applied unto their return from their spiritual captivity to sin, Satan, and the law, through the Gospel of Christ and his apostles, first published in Judea, by means of which there was a large harvest of souls gathered in, and was an occasion of great joy.
h “sed”, V. L. Munster, Grotius. i “cum ego reduco”, Calvin.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In conclusion, Judah is mentioned again, that it may not regard itself as better or less culpable. Hos 6:11. “Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for thee, when I turn the imprisonment of my people.” Judah stands at the head as an absolute noun, and is then defined by the following . The subject to shath cannot be either Israel or Jehovah. The first, which Hitzig adopts, “Israel has prepared a harvest for thee,” does not supply a thought at all in harmony with the connection; and the second is precluded by the fact that Jehovah Himself is the speaker. Shath is used here in a passive sense, as in Job 38:11 (cf. Ges. 137, 3*). , harvest, is a figurative term for the judgment, as in Joe 3:13, Jer 51:33. As Judah has sinned as well as Israel, it cannot escape the punishment (cf. Hos 5:5, Hos 5:14). never means to bring back the captives; but in every passage in which it occurs it simply means to turn the captivity, and that in the figurative sense of restitutio in integrum (see at Deu 30:3). Amm , my people, i.e., the people of Jehovah, is not Israel of the ten tribes, but the covenant nation as a whole. Consequently sh e bhuth amm is the misery into which Israel (of the twelve tribes) had been brought, through its falling away from God, not the Assyrian or Babylonian exile, but the misery brought about by the sins of the people. God could only avert this by means of judgments, through which the ungodly were destroyed and the penitent converted. Consequently the following is the thought which we obtain from the verse: “When God shall come to punish, that He may root out ungodliness, and bring back His people to their true destination, Judah will also be visited with the judgment.” We must not only reject the explanation adopted by Rosenmller, Maurer, and Umbreit, “when Israel shall have received its chastisement, and be once more received and restored by the gracious God, the richly merited punishment shall come upon Judah also,” but that of Schmieder as well, who understands by the “harvest” a harvest of joy. They are both founded upon the false interpretation of shubh sh e bhuth , as signifying the bringing back of the captives; and in the first there is the arbitrary limitation of amm to the ten tribes. Our verse says nothing as to the question when and how God will turn the captivity of the people and punish Judah; this must be determined from other passages, which announce the driving into exile of both Israel and Judah, and the eventual restoration of those who are converted to the Lord their God. The complete turning of the captivity of the covenant nation will not take place till Israel as a nation shall be converted to Christ its Saviour.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Then he adds, Judah also has set a plantation for thee That I may finish the chapter, I will briefly notice this verse. Interpreters render it thus, “Also Judah, thou hast set for thyself an harvest:” but the verb, as it is evident, is in the third person; it cannot then be rendered otherwise than, ‘Also Judah has set.’ They who render it in the second person, “Thou hast set for thyself an harvest,” elicit this sense, “Thou also Judah, whom I have chosen for myself, hast set for thyself an harvest, that is, thou hast prepared a miserable harvest for thyself; for thou sowest ungodliness, whose fruit thou shalt hereafter gather:” but this is strained. Now since the word קציר, kotsir, signifies in Hebrew not only “harvest,” but also “a plant,” it may properly be so taken in this place, Also Judah, while I was returning the captivity of my people, did set for himself a plant; that is, he propagated his own impieties. God indeed addresses here the Israelites, and complains of Judah; for the Jews, we know, were retained by the Lord, when the ten tribes separated. This defection of the ten tribes did not cause religion to fail wholly among the whole people. There remained the pure worship of God, at least as to the outward form, at Jerusalem. The Lord then complains not here of Judah without a cause. He had said before, ‘Judah shall be saved by his God;’ but now he says, ‘Judah also has set for himself a plant;’ that is, “superstitions have been long and widely enough springing up among all Israel, they have spread through all the corners of the land: and now Judah also,” he says, “is planting his own shoots, for he draws the Israelites to himself;” there is therefore a new propagation, and this is done, While I am returning the captivity of my people; that is, “while I am seeking to restore the scattering of my people.”
In a word, God shows here that there was no part any longer whole. When one undertakes the cure of a diseased body, and when he sees at least some parts whole, he has some hope of applying a remedy; but when not even a finger remains sound, what can the physician do? So also the Lord says in this place, “There was at least some hope of Judah, for some form of my worship remained there, and the purer teaching of the law continued; but now Judah propagates superstitions for Israel; observing that the whole land of Israel is full of superstitions, he takes from thence shoots and slips, and corrupts the remaining portion of the land, which has hitherto remained sacred to me.” We now perceive, as I think, the genuine meaning of the Prophet.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) An harvest.The harvest is not of joy, but of sorrow and affliction, befalling Judah, like Israel, for her sins: a contrast to the usual accompaniments of the season when the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated (Deu. 12:13-16; Lev. 23:40; Psa. 126:5-6). In regard of the last clause of the verse, when I turn the captivity of my people, it is best to unite it with the succeeding chapter. (So Ewald, Reuss, &c.) Some writers (as recently, Nowack) explain the Hebrew word for captivity by a different etymology, and here interpret destiny, or fate. The full turning of the captivity cannot be realised till Ephraim and Judah accept the Christ.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you.
In a quick change of tack Hosea turns on Judah. If many Judeans were attending the cult festival at which he was speaking these words, this might be seen as perfectly natural, for while Judah was not specifically in his sights he might well have wanted to give them a warning shot. And so he declares to them that God has also prepared a harvest for them. They too will reap what they are sowing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
In my bringing back the captivity (distressed state) of my people,
‘When I would heal Israel,
Then is the iniquity of Ephraim uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria,
For they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in,
And the troop of robbers ravages without.’
Having given his warning shot to Judah Hosea immediately turns back to Israel, citing the words of YHWH. He does not want to divert attention from what He is saying to Israel/Ephraim. The word rendered ‘captivity’ may indicate that, in an attempt to heal Israel, YHWH was preparing to arrange for those already in exile to be returned, or it may simply indicate the distressed state into which Israel had fallen from which He wished to restore them. Either way His attempt fails because in seeking to attempt it He somehow ‘uncovers the iniquity of Ephraim’, and ‘the wickedness of Samaria’. Such language is of course anthropomorphic. His attempts may have taken place through men who were taking part in negotiations with Assyria, during which the perfidy of Israel was revealed. In mind may be attempts to parley with Assyria and leave the parts of Israel which had been captured in their hands as part of the price of relative freedom. In YHWH’s eyes this would have been seen as treachery indeed (Hos 6:7). But primary to the verse is the fact of the sin that ‘His investigation’ has turned up. They were committing falsehood, there were a multiplicity of thieves breaking into other people’s properties, and the roads were unfit to travel because of lurking bandits (possibly partly to do with the priests in Hos 6:9). Israel and Samaria are now therefore revealed as a hotbed of lawlessness. Justice is almost non-existent. This was the consequence of having lawless kings who were simply adventurers.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 6:11. Also, O Judah But for thee, O Judah, a harvest is prepared, then when I shall bring back the captivity of my people. Houbigant. See ch. Hos 2:15; Hos 2:21. Harvest-work is cut out for Judah at the season of bringing back the captivity. The tribe of Judah is in some extraordinary way to be an instrument of the general restoration of the Jewish people. Observe, that the vintage is always an image of the season of judgment; but the harvest, of the ingathering of the objects of God’s final mercy. I am not aware, that a single unexceptionable instance is to be found, in which the harvest is a type of judgment. In Rev 14:15-16. “the sickle is thrust into the ripe harvest, and the earth is reaped;” that is, the faithful are gathered from the four winds of heaven. The wheat of God is gathered into his barn, (Mat 13:30.) After this reaping of the earth, the sickle is applied to the clusters of the vine; and they are cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. Rev 14:18-20. This is judgment. In Joe 3:13 the ripe harvest is the harvest of the vine, that is, the grapes for gathering, as appears by the context. In Jer 51:33 the act of threshing the corn upon the floor, not the harvest, is the image of judgment. It is true, the burning of the tares in our Saviour’s parable, Matthew 13 is a work of judgment, and of the time of harvest, previous to the binding of the sheaves. But it is an accidental adjunct of the business, not the harvest itself. I believe the harvest is never primarily, and in itself, an image of vengeance.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Their prayers promised a speedy return to God, in the close of the last chapter; and therefore the prophet, with the faithful souls among them, is represented as exciting and encouraging them to put in execution the gracious purposes that they had formed; for good desires should never be suffered to cool.
1. The matter of their exhortation is, Come, and let us return unto the Lord, from whom we have so greatly departed, renouncing now all other confidences and idol-worship, and depending on him alone for help.
2. The motives on which they press such a return, are many and powerful.
[1.] They are assured of his help and healing, if they will return. They had felt by dire experience his power to destroy, and the same hand was as able to save them, and would assuredly be stretched out on their repentance to raise them from their depressed and wretched state. After two days will he revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight; though we lie, as to all national honours and advantages, like dead corpses in our graves during the captivity, he will not suffer us utterly to perish as a nation, but after a short time he will restore us again to our own land, and give to our penitent souls a sense of his favour, and the light of his countenance. And this may refer to their restoration from the Babylonish captivity, or look forward to their recovery from their present dispersion. These words also may well relate to Christ rising on the third day from the dead; in whom also his faithful people rise by virtue of their union with him. Note; (1.) If we are torn and smitten, whatever be the instrument, God’s appointing, permitting, or suffering hand is to be acknowledged. (2.) Whatever the hurt of the sinner may be, however deep the wounds of his conscience, they are not past the divine Physician’s cure. (3.) Nothing is so encouraging a ground to return to God, as a believing view of the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus.
[2.] They shall then have their knowledge of God increased: Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; we shall in this way know his power, grace, and love; and, encouraged by what we have attained, shall be reaching after greater measures of divine knowledge. Note; (1.) The most desirable of all attainments is the knowledge of God. (2.) They who have any true knowledge of God, desire by prayer, the word, and ordinances, to increase it yet more abundantly, and to attain that heavenly state where they shall know even as they are known.
[3.] They shall then enjoy the richest consolations: His going forth is prepared as the morning; though God had left them to a dark night of affliction, yet, like the returning sun he was ready to arise upon them with healing in his wings; and sure as the return of the morning, and cheering as the light of day, would be the return of his favour and grace to them, whenever they truly sought him: and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth; in the abundance of his blessings, as these seasonable showers caused the barns to be filled with corn, and their vats to overflow with wine and oil. And these promises, whatever particular respect they had to the recovery of the Jews from Babylon, look forward to the days of the Messiah, the glorious Sun of Righteousness, whose blessed Gospel, like the dew of heaven, should drop upon the souls of sinners, and fill the face of the world with fruit: but especially they look forward to the final restoration of the Jewish nation.
2nd, There appeared promising hopes that a reconciliation would be effected: but we have,
1. Their hypocrisy, and the concern that God expressed thereat: O Ephraim, &c. O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? what could be done that he had not done to reclaim them; and, though it had been hitherto ineffectual, he speaks with reluctance, as yet unwilling to give them up, though they had so justly deserved it; for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away, so shortlived was the reformation under Jehu, and in the days of Hezekiah and Josiah. Note; (1.) God’s compassion to sinners is amazing, and his patience and dealings with them must leave them without excuse. (2.) Many begin well, and for a while make a fair religious profession, whose goodness has no more abidance than the morning cloud, and vanishes as the early, dew before the sun of persecution or the blasts of temptation.
2. God had severely rebuked them for their unfaithfulness. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets, sharply reproving their hypocrisy, and cutting them to the heart with denunciation of wrath: I have slain them by the words of my mouth, devoting them to death, and then it is as sure if they do not repent, as if every word was a drawn sword; and by judgments are as the light that goeth forth; God’s warnings were clear and plain, and the afflictions that they suffered evidently came from his appointing or permissive hand; so that then impenitence was inexcusable, and all that came upon them must needs appear altogether righteous and just. Note; (1.) The hearts of sinners are so hard and knotty, that God’s ministers must use the sharp two-edged sword, and hew them by the terrors of the Lord, and with the remonstrances of their baseness and ingratitude. (2.) The threatenings which God pronounces against the ungodly, if they do not repent, are sure to be executed; they are already as dead men.
3. He tells them what he required of them. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings; for these had in themselves no intrinsic value; their only use was, to point out the necessity of an Atonement, and to lead them to a Saviour; and when they rested in the form of godliness, while they neglected the power of it, the most expensive sacrifices were of no avail. The thing that God required was their heart, not their beasts; that they should know, acknowledge, worship and serve him as their Lord and God, and exercise mercy, chesed, which may be rendered goodness, comprehending the whole scope of practical godliness, and proceeding from the divine principle of the love of God and man in the heart; and this must ever be remembered, since without it all professions of religion are but an empty name.
4. They shamefully transgressed the covenant like Adam the first sinner, or like men, the wicked ones in the old world, or the multitude of the ungodly who still abound; there have they dealt treacherously against me; even in the very sacrifices that they offered, and their other religious acts, they played the hypocrite; their hearts were wrong, and their very services therefore an abomination. And this was evident from their practice; Gilead is the city of them that work iniquity, the whole country was given up to it, or that particular city Ramoth-Gilead, inhabited by priests and Levites, whose wickedness was more criminal, and the influence of their bad examples more extensively fatal; for none do such irreparable hurt to men’s souls, or wound the cause of God so deeply, as profligate worldly idolatrous ministers; and is polluted with blood, for ungodly ministers are the bitterest persecutors. Probably, this being a city of refuge, a bribe would protect wilful murderers, and for filthy lucre the innocent were delivered into the hands of the avenger of blood. Nor is it a wonder to see them sell men’s bodies, when we daily see the more criminal sale of God’s souls. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent; the general body of them was corrupt, and they connived at and upheld each other in their wicked ways, and were ever ready to assist each other to persecute or oppress those against whom they bore enmity: or they murder in the way to Shechem, lying in wait for those pious Israelites who turned their backs on the calves, and were going up to Jerusalem to worship. They commit lewdness, or enormity, the most infamous crimes, with deep contrivance, as the word signifies; I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, corporal and spiritual; Israel is defiled, the whole nation addicted to idolatry and lasciviousness. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, the time is fixed; and thou art ripe for ruin: or the words should be rather taken in another sense, and then the prophesy closes with a promise of mercy; But, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, God hath joy in store for thee, when I returned, or return, the captivity of my people from Babylon; which would occasion great gladness through all the tribes; or, rather, it refers to their return to their own land from their present and last dispersion, which will prove the joy of the whole world. Note; (1.) Sin is a horrible thing; it should shock us wherever we see it committed. (2.) God’s grace triumphs over our provocations, if we repent and return; and, though we deserve punishment, his thoughts toward us in such case will be thoughts of peace and not of evil.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
READER! it is blessed amidst the general; yea, universal corruption of our poor fallen nature, to behold, even in a few instances here and there afforded, of the sovereignty of the Lord’s grace. And when we hear the cry issuing from the heart, come, and let us return unto the Lord, we may well exclaim, what hath God wrought! For surely nothing less than an Almighty power could effect the change; and the Lord’s grace alone accomplish it.
But it is to thee, O blessed Jesus, as the glorious and efficient cause, the great event in every instance must be ascribed. It is from thy goings forth as the morning, when thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, the auspicious mercy is to be traced. Lord! help me to contemplate thee, under this endeared character! Be it my mercy, night and morning, to behold thee in this lovely, this gracious point of view. By the leadings of thine Holy Spirit, guiding my soul through the sacred pages of thy word, I see thee coming forth as the morning, yea, as a morning without clouds, in the council of peace between the persons of the Godhead, when thou stoodest up, at the call of Jehovah, as the glorious Head, and Surety, of thy people. I see thee also coming in with the very first dawn of revelation, as the seed of the Woman to bruise the Serpent’s head. I trace the wonderful subject, all pointing to thee, in every sacrifice, type, and shadow, of the law, during the whole Jewish dispensation; until at length, in the fulness of time, thou camest forth as the morning, in the open manifestation of thyself; in substance of our flesh! Hail! thou glorious, gracious, great Deliverer, of a lost world! And dost thou not now, even now, come forth as the morning, when to the heart of every individual believer, after the long night of the sin, and darkness, and ignorance, of a fallen state, thou manifestest thyself to them in a way of conversion, otherwise than thou dost to the world? Dost thou not, blessed Jesus, make every renewed love token of thy visits, like the morning when coming a-fresh, to revive, to comfort, to help, to maintain, and strengthen thy redeemed, in the dark state of their present pilgrimage? Oh! precious, precious Jesus! continue and increase those sweet visits, morning by morning, and be thou as the rain, both the latter and the former rain, upon the earth. Yea, Lord! come upon my dry and barren heart as showers of blessings! Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 6:11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
Ver. 11. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee ] This is a very difficult text, and much vexed by interpreters. Et hic nisi Lyra lyrasset, nos omnes delirassemus. Lyra sets this sense upon the text, and I accord him: Though thou, Judah, art also to be carried captive; yet God hath set, or provided for thee, a harvest in thine own land, when I shall have returned the captivity of my people, viz. under the conduct of Zorobabel, by the decree of Cyrus. Here, then, is a promise of a joyful harvest to Judah, who is not to be punished with like severity as Israel, Hos 1:7 , and for the change of person, when I returned, for he shall have returned. See Isa 29:19 Jer 31:23 Zep 3:20 Psa 14:7 . Simul Iudae captivitas et reditus praedicitur significanter admodum, saith Jerome here; both the captivity and return of Judah is here very significantly foretold. It is a very good note that one giveth here, sc. that God in his chastisement ever showeth himself mindful of his covenant; after a long barrenness, he setteth for his people a plentiful harvest, and turneth again their captivity, after that for a time he hath tried them. His mercy also and faithfulness herein appeareth, that be mingleth promises with threatenings; and while he utterly destroyeth the kingdom of the ten tribes, he preserveth the commonwealth of Judah, wherein the Messiah was to come, and whereof there was not (by the ancient prophecies) to be a dissolution, till Shiloh came. Hence it is that promises of the restoration of Judah are ever intermingled, lest any should doubt the manifestation of the Messiah in the fulness of time.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he hath set = there is appointed.
harvest: i.e. a reaping time of judgment. See Jer 51:33. Joe 3:13; and compare Pro 22:8. Gal 1:6, Gal 1:7, Gal 1:8.
for thee. Some codices, with two early printed editions and Aramaean, read “for her”.
returned = turned again.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he hath: Jer 51:33, Joe 3:13, Mic 4:12, Rev 14:15
when: Job 42:10, Psa 126:1, Zep 2:7
Reciprocal: Isa 17:5 – as when Amo 2:4 – Judah Mic 1:1 – concerning
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 6:11. A passing notice is given frequently to Judah (the 2-tribe kingdom), but the main subject of this book is the affairs of Israel (the 10 tribe kingdom). In the present verse a wide space of time is covered. The prophet sees into the future when Judah, like Israel, will be sent into captivity for idolatry, hut afterwards be returned t,o the home land,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
6:11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an {i} harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
(i) That is, imitates your idolatry, and has taken grafts of your trees.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Judah also had sinned horribly and could anticipate a harvest of judgment. This would come when the Lord paid back His people for their sins. Yet the hope of eventual restoration was clear. This would be another type of harvest, a harvest marked by blessing and restoration, and that is the one primarily in view here. Reference to restoration concludes this brief message as it does the major series of messages on judgment.
The mention of Judah at the beginning and at the end of this message proves again that both kingdoms were guilty of disloyalty to God, though Israel was the worse offender.