Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 7:10
And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
10. And the pride of Israel ] Repeated from Hos 5:5, just as Hos 12:9 a is repeated in Hos 13:4 a. It is not the prophet who speaks condemning a bad quality in his people, but Jehovah, Israel’s true Pride, and the source of Israel’s prosperity, who utters a solemn word of warning translated into act. How much more suitable this explanation is in such a context than either of the alternatives mentioned on Hos 5:5.
for all this ] i.e. in spite of all this chastisement, comp. Isa 9:12; Isa 9:17; Isa 9:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face – His pride convicted him. All the afflictions of God humbled him not; yea, they but brought out his pride, which kept him from acknowledging and repenting of the sins which had brought those evils upon him, and from turning to God and seeking to Him for remedy . People complain of their fortune or fate or stars, and go on the more obstinately, to build up what God destroys, to prop up by human means or human aid what, by Gods providence, is failing; they venture more desperately, in order to recover past losses, until the crash at last becomes hopeless and final.
Nor seek Him for all this – God had exhausted all the treasures of His severity, as, before, of His love. He Himself marvels at His incorrigible and contumacious servant, as He says in Isaiah, Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more Isa 1:5. How is this? It follows, because they have no heart.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 7:10
They do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him for this.
Our sin
I. The duty of seeking God. In the Scriptures this stands for the whole of religion. Religion is thus substantially expressed for two reasons–because it is with God that we have principally to do. Our principal dependence is upon Him; our principal expectations are from Him; our principal connections are with Him. And because, before we can have anything to do with Him, we must find Him. Morally and spiritually considered, we are away from God, and God is away from us. We have left Him criminally, and He has left us penalty. Our first concern, therefore, is to find God, and for this purpose we are to seek after Him. See four purposes for which we are to seek God, and which enter essentially into genuine religion.
1. We are to seek to know Him. Here genuine religion begins.
2. We must seek to enjoy Him, and in order to this we must be reconciled. Till His anger is turned away from us, He cannot comfort us.
3. We are to seek to serve Him. He is our Master to obey and to wait upon.
4. We must seek to resemble Him. It is the essence of religion, to be like Him whom we worship. You cannot resemble His natural perfections; you can His moral perfections.
II. The neglect of this duty. They do not seek the Lord their God. Are there no exceptions? Yes, God always has His remnant. But the language of Scripture is awful upon this subject. Its language implies generality, if it does not imply universality. Glance at five classes of delinquents.
1. Infidels. Who deny, at least, the moral providence and government of God, and also a future state.
2. The profligate. These hide not their sin as Sodom, but publish it like unto Gomorrah.
3. The careless. Who are indifferent to everything of a religious nature.
4. Formalists. Who have a name that they live, but are dead.
5. Partial seekers. Whose goodness is like the morning cloud. Not always insincere at the time. Their religion is dependent upon external excitements. This is enough to refute the lies you find in all our churchyards, where every tombstone and every headstone tells you that all the parish has gone to heaven, or is going there.
III. The aggravation of this neglect. They seek not the Lord their God for all this. All what? How various and numerous are the means which God is providing, and which He perpetually employs as the prevention of sin and the excitements to holiness; or to induce men to seek the Lord their God. What are they? Profusion of benefits in nature, providence, and grace. The Scriptures, which men have in their own hand, and in their own tongue. Sending His ministers, so that men can hear the words of eternal life. The power of conscience. The various addresses, reproofs, admonitions, encouragements, derived from their various connections, father, mother, etc. Afflictions. Public calamities. The Jews were threatened with four very sore judgments.
1. From wild and noisome beasts.
2. From war.
3. From famine.
4. Pestilence.
Here we recently have awfully resembled them. The sermon was preached on the day of national humiliation on account of the cholera. But repentance is never produced by unmixed terror. Terror may drive, but goodness alone leads to repentance. You are not to yield entirely to the seducements of croaking and brooding. Close with a reflection, turning on the goodness of God and depravity of man. The goodness of God, who sees all sins, and yet forbears. The depravity of man, in that the beneficiaries are constantly neglecting and opposing their kind Benefactor. How the goodness of God and the depravity of man have been displayed in our country. Apply to individuals. Individualise you in your gratitude, your penitence, your danger, and your hope. (William Jay.)
Will not be humbled
1. God expects we should turn upon affliction.
2. Afflictions, if not sanctified, will never turn the heart.
3. It is a great aggravation of mens sins not to turn under afflictions.
4. Though afflictions may work repentance, yet such repentance is seldom true; it will not often sustain the trial.
5. True repentance is rather a seeking of Gods face than our own case from afflictions. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. The pride of Israel] The same words as at Ho 5:6, where see the note. See Clarke on Ho 5:6.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The pride of Israel testifieth to his face: see Hos 5:5. Their proud contempt of God and his threats, of the prophets and their warnings, is notorious.
They do not return to the Lord; they persist in sin without repentance, run away from God rather than return to him. Of this phrase,
return, see Hos 6:1.
Their God; who was theirs of old, who still would be theirs on fair terms, of whom they talk and boast.
Nor seek him; see this phrase Hos 5:15; they pray not, repent not, nor rely on God.
For all this; though so greatly, continually, and severely punished, though almost eaten up.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Repetition of Ho5:5.
not return to . . . Lord . .. for all thisnotwithstanding all their calamities (Isa9:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face,….
[See comments on Ho 5:5]; notwithstanding their weak and declining state, they were proud and haughty; entertained a high conceit of themselves, and of their good and safe condition; and behaved insolently towards God, and were not humbled before him for their sins. Their pride was notorious, which they themselves could not deny; they were self-convicted, and self-condemned:
and they do not return to the Lord their God; by acknowledgment of their sins, repentance for them, and reformation from them; and by attendance on his worship, from which they had revolted; so the Targum,
“they return not to the worship of the Lord their God:”
nor seek him for all this; though they are in this wasting, declining, condition, and just upon the brink of ruin, yet they seek not the face and favour of the Lord; they do not ask help of him, or implore his mercy; and though they have been so long in these circumstances, and have been gradually consuming for many years, yet in all this time they have made no application to the Lord, that he would be favourable, and raise their sinking state, and restore them to their former glory.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And the pride of Israel beareth witness to his face, and they are not converted to Jehovah their God, and for all this they seek Him not.” The first clause is repeated from Hos 5:5. The testimony which the pride of Israel, i.e., Jehovah, bore to its face, consisted in the weakening and wasting away of the kingdom as described in Hos 7:9. But with all this, they do not turn to the Lord who could save them, but seek help from their natural foes.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Prophet now confirms his previous doctrine, and speaks generally, that the pride of Israel shall bear testimony to him to his face, or shall humble him to his face. The word ענה, one, means, in Hebrew, “to testify,” and often, also, “to humble,” or “to afflict,” as it was stated in the fifth chapter; and the words of the Prophet are now the same, and both senses are appropriate. I do not, however, make much of this, for the design of the Prophet is clear; what he means is, that God had so openly chastised the Israelites, that they must have perceived his hand, except they were blind indeed, and that, being at the same time warned, they ought to have suppliantly humbled themselves. Whether then we read, “to testify” or “to humble,” the sense will be the same, and the design of the Prophet will appear to be the same. “The pride, then, of Israel will humble him to his face,” or, “the pride of Israel will testify to his face:” for the Prophet means, that however fiercely the Israelites might rise up against God, and be uncourteous to his Prophets and however perversely they might reject all teaching, and also excuse their own sins, yet all this would avail them nothing, since they were so cast down by their pride, that the Lord regarded them as convicted as much so as if their crime had been proved by many witnesses, and their mask now taken away; in short, there was no longer any doubt: this is what the Prophet means.
The pride, then, of Israel testifies, or, humbles him to his face; that is, though Israel had appeared hitherto inflexible against all admonitions, against all punishments, they were yet held as convicted; and, at the same time, they return not, he says, to their God, and seek him not for all these things We now perceive what I have said, that the previous complaint respecting the diabolical perverseness which so reigned in the people is here confirmed, so that their salvation was now past hope. And he says that they returned not to Jehovah their God; for they were running constantly after their idols, as we have before seen; yea, they were possessed with that inordinate zeal of which the Prophet speaks in the beginning of the chapter; but they returned not to Jehovah; they were wholly taken up with the multitude of their deities, and at the same time had no regard for God.
And when he says, their God, he conveys a strong reprobation; for God had manifested himself to them; yea, he had made himself plainly known to them by his law. That they then did not return to him, was not simply through ignorance or error; but through a diabolical madness, as if they wished of their own accord and deliberately to perish. God then calls himself here the God of Israel, not for honour’s sake, but that he might the more expose their ingratitude, and enhance their perfidiousness, because they had fallen away from him, and would not seek him.
What he means, when he says, For all these things, is, that every kind of remedy had been tried, and hence that their disease was wholly incurable. When we can do nothing in one way, we often try another. Now God had not tried in one way only to bring Israel back to himself, but he had tried all remedies. When no good followed, what was to be said, but the people were lost, and past all hope? This then is what the Prophet means here. It now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Hos. 7:10. Pride is observed to defeat its own ends, by bringing the man who seeks esteem and reverence into contempt [Bolingbroke].
Pride hath no other glass
To show itself, but pride; for supple knees
Feed arrogance, and are the proud mans fees, Shakspeare.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(10) See Note on Hos. 5:5.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And the pride of Israel testifies to his face,
Yet they have not returned to YHWH their God,
Nor sought him, for all this.’
But Israel are so full of false pride and arrogance that they give evidence before Him (or before themselves) of what they have done (compare Hos 5:5), seemingly without conscience. They are openly brazen about their godless ritual, even flaunting it in front of Him. Yet in spite of all that has happened they have not returned to YHWH ‘their God’, nor have they sought His face.
Others see ‘the Pride of Israel’ as referring to God as the only One of whom Israel could be proud, thus paralleling ‘YHWH their God’. The idea is then that they have not listened to the One of Whom they should have been proud. But Hos 5:5 tends in our view to favour seeing the reference as being to Israel’s inordinate pride.
Note the emphasis on ‘their God’. Although they would not recognise the fact, He was their God, and any other was an intruder. (And it was because He was their God that He would one day restore them. But that would be a long way ahead).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 7:10. The pride of Israel, &c. See chap. Hos 5:5.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Hos 7:10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
Ver. 10. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face ] Sept. the ignominy, or impudence of Israel: q.d. They think to brave it out in a stout and stomachful way. Low they are, but not lowly; humbled, but not humble. God thrust him downward, as it were with a thump on the back; but he stood stouting it out with him; and so discovered a great deal of arrogance and folly. Plectimur, may such say, nec tamen flectimur; Corripimur sed non corrigimur (Salvian.). We have been stricken, but not sick; beaten, but not sensible, &c.; the drunkards’ ditty, Pro 23:35 . When for all this, for all that God can do to tame them, and turn them again, they will on in their wicked ways, and not “accept the punishment of their iniquities”; not confess and forsake their sins, that they have mercy; not seek him, that is, come unto him by faith, Heb 11:6 , and subject themselves unto him by true obedience, 2Ch 7:14 , this is such a piece of pride as testifieth to men’s faces, that they deserve to be destroyed; this is wickedness with a witness; this is fastus adeo enormis atque notorius, saith Pareus, such horrible and notorious insolence, as is not to be endured. God complains of Israel for this with a sigh, Ah sinful nation, &c., and resolves upon revenge, Hos 7:12 . See Trapp on “ Hos 5:5 “ of turning to God. See Zec 1:3 , and of seeking God, see Hos 5:15 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the pride of Israel. See note on Hos 5:5.
they do not return, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 4:29).
the Lord. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the pride: Hos 5:5, Jer 3:3
and they: Hos 7:7, Hos 6:1, Pro 27:22, Isa 9:13, Jer 8:5, Jer 8:6, Jer 25:5-7, Jer 35:15-17, Amo 4:6-13, Zec 1:4
nor: Psa 10:4, Psa 14:2, Psa 53:2, Rom 3:11
Reciprocal: Isa 10:21 – return Isa 43:22 – thou hast not Isa 59:12 – our sins Jer 8:4 – turn Jer 14:7 – though Dan 9:13 – made we not our prayer before Amo 4:8 – yet Zep 2:3 – Seek ye Hag 2:17 – yet
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 7:10. Pride of Israel testifieth. etc., is explained at Hos 5:5. The folly of their conduct was made clear by this testimony, yet they were not induced thereby to seek the Lord for help.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Despite Israel’s weakness, the nation was too proud to return to Yahweh and seek His help. Israel seems to have been living in the past glory days rather than in the present. The years following the reign of King Jeroboam II saw the weakening of Israel that this whole section of the book pictures.