Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 8:12
I have written to him the great things of my law, [but] they were counted as a strange thing.
12. I have written to him ] Auth. Vers, here follows the Targum and the Peshito (the Septuagint and the Vulgate give the future), but it is more idiomatic (see p. 36, not [56] to render in the present I am wont to write. The prophet is fully conscious that the divinely given laws under which Israel lives (or ought to live) were not formulated once for all in the Mosaic age, but grew up in different ages. Thus understood, the passage is an important authority for the existence of a legal literature before the Pentateuch became canonical. But another rendering is grammatically possible, ‘Though I wrote unto him’ (my law by myriads, i. e. in myriad precepts).
[56] te The Targum and Aben Ezra, followed by the Authorized Version, render ‘I have written’ (better, ‘I wrote’). The tense is the imperfect, which is sometimes used in highly poetical passages where past occurrences are referred to; see Driver, Hebrew Tenses, 27 (1) ( ). Such a use of the imperfect would however here be isolated, nor is the passage in a poetical style. We must therefore reject the rendering of Auth. Vers., and with it the theory that the prophet refers simply and solely to a body of Mosaic legislation. In fact, when Moses is referred to by Hosea, it is as a prophet and a leader of the people, not as a legislator (Hos 12:13).
the great things of my law ] The expression in the Hebrew, however we understand it, is remarkable and somewhat harsh. All difficulty would we removed if we might suppose the omission of a letter and a transposition; the phrase would then run, ‘the words of my law.’ The Hebrew Bible however gives 1, in the margin, ‘the multitudes of my law’ (Vulg. multiplices leges meas), which is adopted by Auth. Ver., and 2, in the text, ‘the myriads (or, the myriad precepts) of my law.’ The word rendered ‘multitudes’ is questionable, since it occurs elsewhere only in the singular, and there is here no apparent occasion for a plural. ‘The myriads of my law’ is a bold expression, but this reading is generally preferred. ‘My law’ may be understood to imply that, though Jehovah’s will was made known ‘by divers portions’ (Heb 1:1 R. V.), yet these ‘portions’ when fitly joined together made a whole. This was certainly the feeling of those Jewish Bible-students who affixed the vowel-points; but, as Hosea is thinking of the multiplicity of the laws, rather than of their unity, some have thought that we should rather read (altering one point), ‘my laws.’ We can estimate the multiplicity spoken of from the Pentateuch, whether this work was known to Hosea in anything at all like its present form or not. We must remember, however, that the laws to which the prophet alludes are concerned, not with rites and ceremonies, but with civil justice and the applications of a plain but religiously sanctioned morality (comp. the so-called Book of the Covenant, Exodus 21-23).
they were (rather, are) counted as a strange thing ] As something which did (does) not concern them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I have written to him the great things of My law – Literally, I write. Their sin then had no excuse of ignorance. God had written their duties for them in the ten commandments with His own hand; He had written them of old and manifoldly , often repeated and in divers manners. He wrote those manifold things to them (or for them) by Moses, not for that time only, but that they might be continually before their eyes, as if He were still writing. He had written to them since, in their histories, in the Psalms. His words were still sounding in their ears through the teaching of the prophets. God did not only give His law or revelation once for all, and so leave it. By His providence and by His ministers He continually renewed the knowledge of it, so that those who ignored it, should have no excuse. This ever-renewed agency of God He expresses by the word, I write, what in substance was long ago written. What God then wrote, were the great things of His law (as the converted Jews, on the day of Pentecost speak of the great or wonderful things of God ) or the manifold things of His law, as the Apostle speaks of the manifold wisdom of God Eph 3:10, and says, that God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets Heb 1:1.
They were counted as a strange thing by them – These great, or manifold things of Gods law, which ought to have been continually before their eyes, in their mind and in their mouth Deu 6:7-9, they, although God had written them for them, counted as a strange thing, a thing quite foreign and alien to them, with which they had no concern. Perhaps this was their excuse to themselves, that it Was foreign to them. As Christians say now, that one is not to take Gods law so precisely; that the Gospel is not so strict as the law; that people, before the grace of the Gospel, had to be stricter than with it; that the liberty of the Gospel is freedom, not from sin, but from duty; that such and such things belonged to the early Christians, while they were surrounded by pagan, or to the first times of the Gospel, or to the days when it was persecuted; that riches were dangerous, when people could scarcely have them, not now, when every one has them; that vice lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness ; that the world was perilous, when it was the Christians open foe, not now, when it would be friends with us, and have us friends with it; that, love not the world was a precept for times when the world hated us, not now, when it is all around us, and steals our hearts, So Jeroboam and Israel too doubtless said, that those prohibitions of idolatry were necessary, when the pagan were still in the land, or while their forefathers were just fresh out of Egypt; that it was, after all, God, who, was worshiped under the calves; that state-policy required it; that Jeroboam was appointed by God, and must needs carry out that appointment, as he best could. With these or the like excuses, he must doubtless have excused himself, as though Gods law were good, but foreign to them. God counts such excuses, not as a plea, but as a sin.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 8:12
I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted a strange thing.
A grave miscalculation
What God complains of is that whilst He has made known to Israel the loftiest truths of righteousness and grace, Israel has treated those truths as matters altogether foreign, with which he had the very least concern. And is not this matter of ignoring the law characteristic of our own day? How many live without attending to Divine revelation; they give it the go-by, they dismiss it with serene unconcern.
I. The truths of revelation are of the highest concern, If the dilemma of life is that we cannot attend to everything, only to things of pre-eminent importance, then we must attend to the great doctrines of revelation; for they are hound up with our highest interests. Take the doctrine of righteousness from the Old Testament. The righteousness of the law is essential to our worldly interests, to our characters, to our happiness, and to our final salvation. Take the doctrine of grace from the New Testament. Is not this great doctrine essential? Many pride themselves upon neglecting religion. They attend to their business, and have no time for religion. Religion is a fancy, a fashion, a luxury, g thing to be brought in if possible, to be left out if necessary. But it is the one thing needful.
II. The truths of revelation are of abiding concern. In Hoseas time the law had become irrevelant, obsolete. Many now regard the law of God in revelation as inadequate to the modern world. But do not these very objectors go back to the Greek for intellectual perfection; to Euclid to learn mathematics; to Demosthenes to learn eloquence; to Praxiteles to learn sculpture; to Homer for the ideal of poetry? As God gave the Hebrew the knowledge of righteousness, it is no reflection on us that we go back to Moses and Isaiah, to Job and Paul. Our text declares the abiding validity of the law. God keeps on writing the law; He is continually freshening it, and making it a living thing in the conscience of the world. Men speak of outgrowing Christianity when they have become dead to it through a life of materialism, worldliness, lust, selfishness. Gods Word is not a strange thing. It is written for our admonition and salvation, upon whom the ends of the world have come. We need the precious truths of this Holy Book as much as ever.
III. The truths of revelation are of universal concern. There is often in men the feeling that the truths of religion may concern others, but are not applicable to them. But the weighty things of the law concern us all. We all need the mercy Of God in Christ (W. L. Watkinson.)
The Scripture despised
It is in vain to imagine that the depravity of the Jews was peculiar to themselves. They were fair specimens of human nature. Under superior advantages, we are no better than they. With regard to the Scriptures consider–
I. Their author. If we consider Scripture to be a cunningly devised fable, we shall treat it as a delusion. If we believe it to be the word of mall, We shall receive it as a human production. If we are convinced that it is indeed the Word of God, we shall feel it to be Divine, and it will work powerfully in us, as it does in those who believe. In favour of these writings we advance a Divine claim. Whoever was the penman, God was the author. Evidence comes from the prophecies; from kinness with the Book of Creation; from adaptation to the wants of man.
II. Their contents. We naturally judge of an author by his work, but there are cases in which we judge of a work by the author. As soon as we learn that God Himself is the author of this Book, we may approach it confidently, expecting to find in it a greatness becoming His glorious: name. We find great things.
1. Great in number.
2. In profundity.
3. In importance.
4. In their efficacy.
The greatest thing we have upon earth is the Gospel.
III. The reception which this divine communication meets with. They were counted as a strange thing. That means a thing foreign to us; a matter of indifference. That men thus treat the Scriptures of truth is the charge here advanced.
1. It is a charge the most wonderful. We should naturally suppose that a book written by God Himself would engage attention. And people are naturally attracted to a work that regards themselves.
2. The most criminal. We often err in our estimate of things, especially those of a moral nature. We have frequently a wrong standard by which to judge of what is good; hence that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. In the same way we deceive ourselves with regard to what is evil. God takes into view the dishonour done to Himself. He weighs the state of the mind, the motives that determine us, the good we oppose and hinder;: the difficulties we have to overcome, the convictions we have to stifle, the reasons that render us inexcusable. By this rule, nothing can be more wicked than to treat with contempt or neglect the means God has provided for our everlasting welfare.
3. The most dreadful. Though God is most patient with you, His judgments must most surely fall.
4. The charge is very commonly deserved. Few pay a due regard to the blessed Word of God. Of those who hear the Word, how many are curious hearers, captious hearers, forgetful hearers, hearers only deceiving their own selves.
5. The charge is not universally true. There are many exceptions. Good men have always been attached to their Bibles. Let me urge upon you a still greater attention to the Word of God. (William Jay.)
Our duty to the Bible
What should be our attitude and action in relation to the Holy Volume?
1. We should accept the volume gratefully as the gift of God. It is the message of our Divine Father to us; designed to instruct us in all the multiform duties of life–to guide us in the intricacies of our pilgrimage–to solace us in the seasons of our sadness–to be a companion to us in our hours of loneliness. It is fully adapted to all the necessities of our nature, and to all the vicissitudes of our surroundings. Let us treat it as we treat no other volume. Let there be no cessation to our thankfulness to God for a treasure so precious, a comfort so profound, a guide so unerring, a weapon so unfailing, a light so transcendent.
2. Our duty is to circulate it. The Book of books should be placed in the hands of every man. It is addressed to all, intended for all, adapted to all, and should not be confined to any clime or any class.
3. We owe the duty to God and ourselves, to study the volume for our own consolation and guidance.
(1) The Book should be approached prayerfully.
(2) It should be searched intelligently.
(3) It should be searched frequently.
Did ever a nation, a family, or an individual regret adopting and following the inspired Book as their guide? Compare it with all the volumes in the public libraries of to-day. None originated in purer motives; none had a Diviner origin; none has had a more wonderful history; none has produced fruits of happiness and holiness so world wide; none has been so miraculously preserved; none is destined to a future so glorious. (J. Hiles Hitchens, D. D.)
The great things of Scripture
I. The Holy Scriptures are Gods writing.
II. The subjects of which the Holy Scriptures treat are great things. The things written in the Scriptures may well be styled great things.
1. Because of their inherent grandeur. Can there possibly be any greater subject than God Himself in His character, in His infinite excellence, and in His relations to men, God as incarnated and revealed in the person of His Son Jesus Christ? Can any themes exceed in interest, atonement for sin, redemption, the indwelling Spirit, immortal life, resurrection, heaven?
2. Because of their supreme importance. They have been given mainly for the purpose of answering those great questions which had perplexed the minds of men from the beginning of human history, and which weighed heavily upon their hearts and consciences the more they thought about them.
3. Because of their great effects. They make all those great who lovingly receive them into their hearts. And much of what the Word of God does for individuals it also does for nations. It introduces into them the germs of solid prosperity and the elements of true greatness. It makes a people righteous, temperate, pure, unselfish, benevolent.
III. Every human being has a personal interest in the contents of the Holy Scriptures. They have been written for all, in the sense of having been written for each individual in that all. I have written unto him. This I have written arms every part of the sacred Book with all the authority of God.
IV. And yet, how many treat the great things which God has written in His word in the very manner which is here condemned! They were counted by them as a strange thing; that is, with indifference, with looks askance, as things with which they had no practical concern, perhaps even with positive aversion. (Homiletic Magazine.)
The dignity of the Scripture
God hath vouchsafed the free use of His Word; what greater bounty? Men pass by it as a thing not worth the looking to; what greater impiety?
I. The free use of Gods Word.
1. The commendation of Gods Word, by the plenty, abundance, and largeness of the matter that is in it; and by the price, excellency, and worth of the matter. All necessary points, either touching faith or manners, are abundantly contained and laid forth in the Scriptures. This fact condemns the common neglect and universal contempt of the rules and precepts of Holy Scripture. In matters of conversation, men prefer the examples and guides of the times, the course and practice of the multitude, before the principles of Gods Spirit. The excellency of Scripture is seen in that the author of it is God; the matter of it is the mystery of godliness; the style of it, there is a fulness of majesty in simplicity of words; the end of it is to make men wise unto salvation.
II. The mercy of God in vouchsafing His word to us.
1. How can it be said that God hath written His Word?
2. Why was it meet to write it?
3. When the Word of God began first to be written, and how it was preserved for the Churchs use all that time.
4. How we shall be assured that that which amongst us is now called the Scripture is the very same Word and precious will of God, which He hath written for the use and comfort of His people. Nothing is able to persuade a mans conscience that the Scripture is the Word of God, but only the Spirit of God. The best proofs are to be fetched out of Scripture itself. Its excellency is shown in the purity of the law of God by Moses: the quality of the matter in Scripture; the antiquity of the Scripture.
III. Mans misuse of scripture.
1. Shew the nature of the fault. They regarded Scripture as containing matter that did not pertain to them. This fault is compounded of three gross evils–disobedience, unthankfulness, neglect of their own private good, even the good of their souls. What judgment is due to this offence? In general it openeth the very floodgate of Gods wrath. In particular, it makes all our prayers odious, and the torment of our souls. Seeing then that to account the great things of Gods law as a strange thing, is a fault, a grievous fault, a fault liable to extreme punishment, our fault, there is no remedy but we must henceforth give all diligence, that the Word of God may be no more a stranger unto us, but a dweller with us, and familiar unto us. (S. Hieron.)
The great things of God
1. They are things that proclaim the greatness of the Law-maker; and things of great use and importance to us.
2. It is a great privilege to have the things of Gods law written; thus they are reduced to a greater certainty, spread the further, and last the longer, with much less danger of being embezzled and corrupted than if they were transmitted by word of mouth only.
3. The things of Gods law are of His own writing; for Moses and the prophets were His amanuenses.
4. It is the advantage of those that are members of the visible Church that these things are written to them, are intended for their direction, and so they must receive them. (Matthew Henry.)
The great things of Gods law counted as a strange thing
That which should have been for their health, became to them an occasion of more heinous and aggravated guilt.
I. God has written unto us the great things of His law. By the law of God understand the whole revelation which God has given of His will. Take brief survey of Gods law, as written and delivered to us.
1. The declarations contained in it are great and important.
2. There are many promises which are exceeding great and precious.
3. There are great things written in the way of invitation and encouragement.
4. There are great and interesting precepts and instructions.
5. There are solemn threatenings against obstinate and impenitent offenders. We are certainly not less favoured than Israel was.
II. Whether and in what degree we are chargeable with their guilt, in counting the great things of Gods law a strange thing.
1. They did not receive what God delivered to them as being of Divine authority, but as a kind of imposition to which they were under no obligation to submit. We may judge who among ourselves are in a similar state of guilt. All those who deny the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and deem that invaluable treasury of great things to be nothing better than a cunningly devised fable.
2. They did not at all see or discern their own interest in those things. Are not similar views entertained among us? And is not similar conduct the consequence? Some consider the Bible and religion as adapted only to persons of a gloomy and melancholy cast of mind. Others think the study of them belongs only to divines.
3. They were apprehensive that a strict adherence to Gods law would make their conduct appear strange and singular among their surrounding neighbours. We contract greater guilt when ever we are ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; when we are afraid to act up to its sacred rules. The mercy of God, in writing and committing to us the great things of His law, is such as cannot be sufficiently estimated. It calls for fervent and lasting gratitude. To whom much is given, of him shall much be required. (S. Knight, M. A.)
No excuse of ignorance
God had written their duties for them in the Ten Commandments with His own hand; He had written them of old, and manifoldly. He wrote those manifold things to them (or for them) by Moses, not for that time only, but that they might be continually before their eyes, as if He were still writing. He had written to them since, in their histories, in the Psalms. His words were still sounding in their ears through the teaching of the prophets. God did not only give His law or revelation once for all, and then leave it. By His providence and by His ministers, He continually renewed the knowledge of it, so that those who ignored it should have no excuse. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
The Bible to be read
Young man, if some one laughs at you, because you read the Bible, laugh him to scorn. Let him laugh at you because you read Plato, or Homer, or Dante, or Shakespeare, or Browning; but laugh at him if he laugh at you because you read the Bible. More than we have gained from all other literatures we have gained from this. More of our law from Moses than from Justinian; more of our poetry from David than from Homer; more of our inspiration from Isaiah than from Dante, Demosthenes, or Cicero; more of our philosophy from Paul than from Plato; more of our life from this one Book than from all other books combined. And yet it is not the book; it is the message in the book that has to give the life. (Lyman Abbott.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. I have written to him the great things of my law] I have as it were inscribed my laws to them, and they have treated them as matters in which they had no interest.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have written: some read it in the future, and by way of question, Shall I write? but most read as we, in the perfect or past tense, I have written, by Moses first, by other prophets afterwards; the law was given to them, as well as to the two tribes.
Great things; for their importance, weighty; for their excellency, precious; and for multitude of precepts, counsels, and directions, sufficient; my law had all this in it for their conduct in all righteousness towards God and man.
But they, all these things which I have written,
were counted as a strange thing; Israel looks on them as nothing to them; they are a distinct kingdom, and have a distinct establishment, their laws are now become unpracticable to us, and we have, by the wisdom of our governors, other laws established for our worship; let Judah keep to theirs, we will keep to our laws; after two hundred years desuetude, would it not be madness to introduce Judahs laws, and innovate all in Israel? Thus they contemned the excellent things of Gods law, as if they were nothing concerned in them. And thus all their sins at last become incurable diseases, which nothing but utter destruction of the sinners can put an end unto.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. great things of . . . law(Deu 4:6; Deu 4:8;Psa 19:8; Psa 119:18;Psa 119:72; Psa 147:19;Psa 147:20). MAURERnot so well translates, “the many things of My law.”
my lawas opposed totheir inventions. This reference of Hosea to the Pentateuch alone isagainst the theory that some earlier written prophecies have not comedown to us.
strange thingas if athing with which they had nothing to do.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I have written to him the great things of my law,…. Which was given by Moses to Israel at the appointment of God, in which were many commands, holy, just, and true; a multiplicity of them, as the Targum, relating to the honour of God, and the good of men; many excellent and useful ones of a moral nature, and others of a ceremonial kind; and particularly concerning sacrifices, showing what they should be, the nature and use of them, and where and on what altar they should be offered; and which pointed at the great sacrifice of the Messiah, who is both altar, sacrifice, and priest: and these things were frequently inculcated by the prophets, who from time to time were sent unto them; so that the Lord was continually writing these things to them by them, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech interpret it; hence they could not plead ignorance, and excuse themselves on that account. The law sometimes not only designs the law of the decalogue, and the ceremonial law, respecting sacrifices, c. but all the books of Moses, in which are written many great and excellent things concerning Christ, his person, offices, and grace yea, all the books of the prophets, the whole of Scripture, which is by inspiration of God, and is the writing and word of God, and not men; and of which holy men of God were the “amanuenses”; and in which many valuable and precious things are recorded, even all the works of God, of creation, providence, and grace; yea, the various thoughts, counsels, and purposes of his heart, relating to the salvation of men, are transcribed here; and the manifold grace of God, or each of the doctrines of grace, are contained herein, especially in the doctrinal and evangelical part of it, which is sometimes called the law of the Lord, even of Christ; and the law or doctrine of faith; see Ps 119:18; here are delivered and held forth the great doctrines of a trinity of Persons in the Godhead; of the everlasting love of God to his people, and of their choice in Christ before the world began; of the covenant of grace; of the incarnation of Christ; of redemption by him; of peace, pardon, righteousness, and atonement, through him; of eternal salvation by him; these things are written, and to be read and referred unto, and observed as the rule of faith and practice, and not unwritten traditions, pretended revelations, reveries, and dreams of men; and written they were, not for the use of the Israelites only under the former dispensation, but for the learning and instruction of us Gentiles also, Ro 3:2;
[but] they were counted as a strange thing; the laws respecting sacrifices more especially, and the place where they were to be offered, which are the things mentioned in the context, had been so long disregarded and disused by Ephraim or the ten tribes, that when they were put in mind of them by the prophets, they looked upon them as things they had no concern with; as laws that belonged to another people, and not to them: and so the great things of divine revelation, the great doctrines of the Gospel, are treated by many as things they have nothing to do with, not at all interesting to them; yea, as nauseous and despicable things, deserving their scorn and contempt, very ungrateful and disagreeable, and in this sense strange, as Job’s breath was to his wife Job 19:17; and also as foreign to reason and good sense, and what cannot be reconciled thereunto: so the Athenians charged the doctrines of the Apostle Paul as strange, irrational, and unaccountable, Ac 17:20.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet shows here briefly, how we ought to judge of divine worship, and thus intends to cut off the handle from all devices, by which men usually deceive themselves, and form disguises, when at any time they are reproved. For he sets the law of God, and the rule it prescribes, in opposition to all the inventions of men. Men think God unjust, except he receives as good and legitimate whatever they imagine to be so; but God, as it is said in another place, prefers obedience to all sacrifices. Hence the Prophet now declares, that all the superstitions, which then prevailed among the people of Israel, were condemned before God; for they obeyed not the law, but had spurious and perverted modes of worship, which they had invented for themselves. We then see the connection of what the Prophet says: he had said in the last verse, that they had multiplied altars for the purpose of sinning; but so great, as I have said, was the obstinacy of the people, that they would by no means bear this to be told to them; he then adds in the person of God, that his law had been given them, and that they had departed from it.
We hence see, that there is no need of using many words in contending with the superstitious, who daringly devise various kinds of worship, and wholly different from what God commands; for they are to be distinctly pressed with this one thing, that obedience is of more account with God than sacrifices, and further, that there is a certain rule contained in the law, and that God not only bids us to worship him, but also teaches us the way, from which it is not lawful to depart. Since, then, the will of God is known and made plain, why should we now dispute with men, who close their eyes and wilfully turn aside, and deign not to pay any regard to God? I have written then, the Lord says: and to give this truth more weight, he introduces God as the speaker. It would have indeed been enough to say, “God has delivered to you his law, why should you not seek knowledge from this law, rather than from your own carnal judgment? Why do you wish thus licentiously to wander, as if no restraint has been put upon you?” But it is a more emphatical way of speaking, when God himself says, I have written my law, but they have counted it as something foreign; that is, as if it did not belong to them.
But he says, that he had written to Israel. He does not simply mention writing, but says, that the treasure had been deposited among the people of Israel; and the worse the people were, because they acknowledged not that so great an honor had been conferred on them, for this was their peculiar inheritance. I have written then my law, “and I have not written it indiscriminately for all, but have written it for my elect people; but they have counted it as something extraneous.” For the word may be rendered in either way.
He adds, The great things, or, the precious, or, the honorable things of my law. Had he said, “I have written to you my law,” the legislator himself was doubtless worthy, to whom all ought to submit with the greatest reverence, and to form their whole life according to his will; but the Lord here extols his own law by a splendid eulogy, and this he does to repress the wickedness of men, who obscure its dignity and excellency: I have written, he says, the great things of my law “How much soever they may despise my law, I have yet set forth in it a wisdom which ought to be admired by the whole world; I have in it brought to light the secrets of heavenly wisdom. Since then it is so, what excuse can there be for the Israelites for despising my law?” He says, that they counted it as something foreign, when yet they had been brought up under its teaching, and the Lord had called them to himself from their very infancy. Since then they ought to have acknowledged the law of God as a banner, under which the Lord preserved them, he here reproaches them for having counted it as something extraneous. It then follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12, 13) The rendering should be, though I write for him a multitude of my precepts. The tense I write is imperfect, and represents the continuous processthe prophetic teaching as well as the ancient Mosaic law. In the wild lust for a foreign religion the pure and spiritual Mosaic worship and the religious influence of prophecy had been forgotten. It seemed something strange; as Christs cross and claims have been accounted strange by so-called Christians.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law,
But they are counted as a strange thing.’
It was not that Israel did not know better. God had written for them ‘the ten thousand things of my Law’, in other words a large number of instructions. But they had counted them as a strange thing, something that was to be avoided. Note the use of ‘ten thousand’ to indicate ‘a large number’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 8:12. I have written, &c. And thus will I inscribe him [Ephraim]; they who were the masters [or teachers] of my law, are esteemed as strangers; “are become utterly useless;” Hos 8:8. God supported the Jews, that they might support the true religion; which as they had now neglected to do, there was no reason why God should support and defend them against the neighbouring kings. See Houbigant.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The prophet is here commanded to spread the alarm, Set the trumpet to thy mouth, and deliver at least his own soul, if he cannot save theirs.
1. He charges them in general as rebels and traitors against the Lord their king; they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law, by a variety of crimes, in direct violation of it, and by a general apostacy of heart from God, and disregard of his worship and service. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, or, him that is good, even God; justly therefore are they rejected by him.
2. Because of this, the enemy shall pursue him: Salmaneser, the Assyrian king; he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, so they called themselves, and thought their relation to him as his family would be their protection; but when they had turned out such undutiful and rebellious children, God gave them into the enemy’s hand; and, swift as an eagle hasteth to her prey, should he seize their country, and spread desolation on every side. Note; No external relation to God can profit us, if our hearts are alienated from him.
3. In their distress they will plead for help, as God’s people. Israel shall cry unto me, but in vain, My God, we know thee, claiming an interest in him, and professing to know him as the true God; but their professions are hypocritical, and therefore their prayers are rejected.
4. Several particular crimes are charged upon them. [1.] They have set up kings, but not by me; they took the government at first out of his hands, when he was their king; revolted from the house of David, and set up Jeroboam; and about this time several had mounted the throne successively on the murder of their predecessors, 2Ki 15:8 and herein the people had not consulted God at all, but followed their own humour, and gratified their own passions; they have made princes, and I knew it not, without his approbation or consent, affecting independence, and shewing an utter disregard to God’s honour and pleasure: and they may not hope to prosper who thus take their affairs into their own hands, and leave God far above out of their sight. [2.] They not only made themselves kings, but gods also; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols; and to this day the covetous do the same; that they may be cut off by their enemies, the Assyrians, when their gods of gold could yield them no assistance. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off, was the cause of their being rejected of God, and given to the sword and to captivity; or hath deserted thee, failed their hopes in the day of trouble, and was seized among other spoils, and carried away by the king of Assyria. Probably, when Samaria became the capital, another calf might be erected there, or one of those from Dan or Beth-el was removed. thither: mine anger is kindled against them, the idolaters, who worshipped the work of their own hands. From Israel was it also, erected with the approbation of the people, and molten out of their treasures; the workman made it, therefore it is not God, a most conclusive and irrefragable argument; but the calf, or for the calf, of Samaria shall be broken in pieces, a sure proof of its vanity; so far from helping them, it could not rescue itself from the hands of the enemy.
5. The prophet expostulates with them on their folly and obstinacy. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency? leaving these wretched dependencies, and returning to the pure worship of God; nor any longer provoke the fierce anger of the Lord. Note; It is the grief of ministers to behold the perverseness of sinners, and they cannot but warmly remonstrate against their provocations.
6. He warns them of the fatal issue of their ways. For they have sown the wind, in the fruitless labours of their idolatrous worship, and their expectation of help from these vanities, and they shall reap the whirlwind; they shall not merely be disappointed of their harvest, but reap their own destruction, swept away by the Assyrian army, as by a resistless whirlwind; it hath no stalk, their seed produces nothing; the bud shall yield no meal, withered with blasting and mildew; and if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up; so far would it be from a blessing to them, that when they prospered and grew wealthy in their sinful and idolatrous courses, their riches would be a temptation to their enemies to come and plunder them. And thus will every sinner and hypocrite’s hope perish; they will reap as they sow, and find by dire experience that the wages of sin is death.
2nd, They who forsake God, forsake their own mercies.
1. Israel’s ruin is foretold. Israel is swallowed up, their whole country shall be devoured, and themselves led captive by the Assyrians: now shall they be among the Gentiles, as a vessel wherein is no pleasure, dispersed, contemptible, and mean. They had profaned the crown of their glory, and therefore justly were trodden under foot. Note; They who dishonour their holy profession, deserve to be made despicable.
2. The cause of their desolations is, their departure from God. For they are gone up to Assyria, to engage their assistance, 2Ki 15:19 a wild ass alone by himself, so obstinate, unruly, and headstrong were they in their ways; or such they should become when carried captive, they should experience every hardship in a strange land. Ephraim hath hired lovers, by expensive presents endeavouring to purchase the friendship of the neighbouring nations; thus deserting God, and changing a rock for a reed. Note; The sinner is as foolish as he is wicked; and instead of the happiness that he expects, really courts his own ruin.
3. Their lovers whom they courted will prove their destroyers. Though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, either their enemies against them, or themselves into the midst of their besieged cities, as sheaves on the floor; and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes; the tribute imposed upon them by the king of Assyria, which is the prelude to greater evils approaching, and which should bring more bitter sorrows along with them. God thus gives warning before he strikes, and brings sinners first into lesser troubles, to see if that will lead them to repentance, before he pours out the vials of his wrath.
4. Their multiplied temples, altars, and sacrifices, shall stand them in no stead. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, to offer sin-offerings upon them with great shew of devotion, altars shall be unto him to sin; so far from expiating his crimes, the very altars would aggravate them, as being reared contrary to the divine prescription, Deu 12:3-5 and dedicated to the honour of the calves, and other idols. I have written to him the great things of my law, wherein all the great things which pertain unto life and godliness were clearly set forth; what God required of them, in what manner he would be worshipped and served, what sacrifices should be offered, and where; and what was the great end of the sacrifices, even to lead them to that atoning Blood that should be shed in the fulness of time; but they were counted as a strange thing, they paid no regard to the institutions of God; and, after long disuse, counted the prophets who would bring them back to the true worship and service of God, as setters forth of strange doctrines. They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; instead of offering it to God, they feasted upon it themselves, and made their devotions minister to their luxury; no wonder, therefore, that the Lord accepteth them not, neither them nor their offerings; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins, so far from pardoning them, that the very sacrifices of atonement which they offered should only add to their iniquities: they shall return to Egypt, Whither many fled on the Assyrian invasion, and miserably perished, chap. Hos 9:3; Hos 9:6 or their captivity in Babylon should be as another Egyptian bondage. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, his worship and ways, and buildeth temples to idols; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities, placing their confidence on these feeble bulwarks, instead of the arm of Omnipotence; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, which we see fearfully accomplished, Jeremiah 52. Note. (1.) God’s own word, not our fancies, must be the directory of our worship. (2.) The law of God contains great things to the enlightened mind, even the way to pardon, peace, life, and glory everlasting. If the things contained therein, to any appear strange and unaccountable, it is owing to the corruption, blindness, and ignorance of their fallen minds. (3.) Let not that which God hath written for our learning, be suffered to become strange through our neglect. (4.) Sacrifices for sin, while the love of it is unmortified, are abominable; they who think by their duties thus to commute for their iniquities, will find the works in which they chiefly trusted, turned into sin. (5.) They who think to fence against God’s judgments, only build Babel walls.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1165
MENS DISREGARD OF THE GOSPEL
Hos 8:12. I have written to him the great things of my Law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
GOD, in estimating the sins of men, takes into his consideration all the aggravations with which they are committed. For instance; the warnings which have been given us against sin, the judgments with which we have been visited on account of it, the mercies that have been vouchsafed to us in the midst of it, are all regarded by him as enhancing our guilt in the commission of it. Hence, in criminating his people, whom now he was about to punish, he particularly charges home upon them their contempt of his word, which he had sent to guide them in the paths of righteousness, and to encourage them in a faithful discharge of their duty towards him. In this view our sins are peculiarly aggravated, inasmuch as we have been favoured with a more perfect revelation of Gods mind and will. And to evince this, I will shew,
I.
What great things God has written to us in his law
By Gods law, we are to understand his word in general; and by the great things of it, are meant its fundamental truths.
Let us take a view of them, as recorded in Gods blessed word
[Our fall in Adam, our recovery by Christ, and our restoration to the Divine image by the Holy Spirit, these are plainly written in every part of the inspired volume. They were made known in the Old Testament, so far as was necessary for the instruction of men under that dark and temporary dispensation. The rite of circumcision marked, that we brought into the world a corrupt nature; and the appointment of sacrifices, whilst it shewed to all their desert of death, evinced to them the necessity of looking forward to that great sacrifice which should in due time he offered for the sins of men. The various lustrations also that were enjoined, gave a striking intimation of what should in due season be effected on the souls of men, through the operation of the Spirit of God. In the writings of David and the prophets, a further light is thrown upon these things: man is declared to be shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin [Note: Psa 51:5.]: and his guilt is said to be removed only through the vicarious sufferings of the Son of God, on whom the iniquities of all mankind are laid [Note: Isa 53:5-6.]. And for the renewal of our nature, we are taught to look to that Divine Agent, who is sent from heaven on purpose to impart it [Note: Eze 36:25-27.].
In the New Testament, these points are more fully opened: and every thing relating to them is developed with all the clearness and certainty that the most scrupulous mind can desire.
Who can doubt the corruption of our nature, when we are told that we are by nature children of wrath [Note: Eph 2:3.]? What stronger proof can we have of the necessity of believing in Christ, than the assurance that there is salvation in no other, and no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved [Note: Act 4:12.]? As to the Spirits operations upon the soul, we are expressly told, that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.]
And are not these things justly called great?
[Verily, in whatever light we view them, they are great. Contemplate the mysteriousness of them. How do they, in every part of them, surpass all human conception! What shall we say to our fall in Adam, and the consequent condemnation of all the human race? What shall we think of the incarnation of Gods only dear Son, for the purpose of satisfying Divine justice in our behalf, and working out a righteousness wherein we guilty creatures may stand before God without spot or blemish? What shall we say of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person in the ever-blessed Trinity, making our polluted souls his temples, for the purpose of renewing our fallen natures, and rendering us meet for glory? Well may the Apostle say, Great is the mystery of godliness [Note: 1Ti 3:16.]! and well may every one, in the contemplation of it, exclaim, O the depth [Note: Rom 11:33.]]
But consider also the importance of these things. There is not any child of man, to whom the tidings of them are made known, that can be saved without an experimental acquaintance with them, and a suitable operation of them upon his soul. Under a sense of our fallen condition, we must lie low before God, in dust and ashes: under a conviction that there is no salvation for us but in Christ Jesus, we must cleave unto him with full purpose of heart: and, under a consciousness of our incapacity to do any thing for ourselves, we must commit ourselves altogether to the care of Gods Holy Spirit, that he may work all our works in us, and perfect that which concerneth us.
Say, then, whether things so deeply mysterious and so infinitely important be not great. Truly there is nothing in the whole universe that deserves a thought in comparison of these stupendous truths.]
But it is humiliating to observe,
I.
How they are regarded by an ungodly world
They are counted as a strange thing:
1.
They are neglected as unimportant
[One would imagine that the book which reveals these great truths should be universally sought after with insatiable avidity; and be studied day and night, in order to the obtaining of a perfect knowledge of its contents. But how is this book treated? It is thought a proper book for children, that they may be made acquainted with its truths so far as their slender capacities can comprehend them: but for persons of adult age it is supposed to contain nothing that is interesting; and it is laid aside by them, as undeserving any serious attention. Angels in heaven are searching into its unfathomable mysteries with an anxiety worthy of the occasion; but men, who are far more deeply interested in them, suffer them to remain without any serious inquiry. In fact, there is no other book so generally slighted as the inspired volume; not a novel or a newspaper but is preferred before it; so little is the excellence of its mysteries contemplated, and so little the importance of its truths considered.]
2.
They are ridiculed as absurd
[Universally is the corruption of our fallen nature regarded as a subject calculated only to inspire gloom, and therefore injurious to the happiness of man. The salvation which Christ has wrought out for us, and freely offers to the believing soul, is reprobated as a licentious doctrine, subversive of morality. The sanctifying influences of the Spirit, also, are held in contempt, as the dreams of a heated imagination, or the pretences of a hypocritical profession. Sin itself, unless in its most hideous forms, is not so universally despised and hated as are the truths of our most holy religion. They were so when proclaimed by prophets, and Apostles, and by our blessed Lord himself. Ah, Lord God, doth he not speak parables [Note: Eze 20:49.]? is the slightest expression of contempt that any preacher of them can expect. In truth, no man can preach them with success, without being accused as deceiving the people, and turning the world upside down.]
Application
How great is the blindness of the natural man!
[The depths of philosophy may be successfully explored by men of studious habits and of intellectual attainments. But who, by any powers of his own, can comprehend the great things of Gods law? Verily, they are to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; and the most learned man on earth, no less than the most illiterate, must say, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law [Note: Psa 119:18.].]
2.
How inestimable are the privileges of Gods people!
[They have been brought out of darkness into marvellous light; and the things which God has hid from the wise and prudent, he has revealed unto them Still, however, there remains a veil upon their hearts, which yet they need to have removed. They still see only as in a glass darkly; and must wait for a full vision, till they come to the regions of the blest above.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 8:12 I have written to him the great things of my law, [but] they were counted as a strange thing.
Ver. 12. I have written to him the great things of my law ] magnalia legis; great things of the law, there are also minutula legis, small things of the law, Mat 5:22 ; both must be looked to: for though the civilian say of his law, De minutis non curat lex, The law takes no notice of small faults; yet it holds not true of the law of God, which is spiritual, and must be kept as the apple of the eye, Pro 7:2 , and observed in every point and part, nay, in every punctilio and particle thereof. But to come to the words; Ephraim could not plead ignorance of God’s mind, for their many altars and superstitions, Deus enim iure quaerat et queratur, for God might very well say and complain, as Pro 22:20 , “Have not I written for thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge?” and in the verse next before, “I have made known (my mind) this day to thee, even to thee.” So here, “I have written,” sc. by my penmen and secretaries, “to him” chiefly, and for his better direction in my service, that he might walk therein by rule, and not at random, see Deu 4:8 Psa 147:19 “the great things,” or excellent documents (the multiplicity or multiformity, saith the Chaldee) “of my law,” or of my wise doctrine; Pro 13:14 , which taketh in the gospel too, that law of Christ, Gal 6:2 .
But they were counted as a strange thing
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I have written. Not Moses: he was only the pen. It was God who “spoke by the prophets” (Heb 1:1); by His Son (Joh 7:16; Joh 8:28, Joh 8:46, Joh 8:47; Joh 12:49; Joh 14:10, Joh 14:24; Joh 17:8); by His Spirit (Joh 16:13. Compare Heb 2:4); and by Paul, “the prisoner of Jesus Christ” (compare 2Ti 1:8). Note the reference to Pentateuch (Exo 17:14; Exo 24:4, Exo 24:7; Exo 34:27. Num 33:1, Num 33:2. Deu 4:6-8, &c.) See App-47and App-92.
great = weighty. Compare Mat 23:23. Hebrew text reads ribbo = myriad; but rnarg. reads rubbey = multitudes, or manifold, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. My law. Not Moses’s law.
counted = accounted.
as a strange thing = as something alien or foreign, as modern critics do to-day. This verse necessitates the accessibility of the law in a written form, and gives more than a clue to the date of the Pentateuch. See App-47.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
written: Deu 4:6-8, Neh 9:13, Neh 9:14, Psa 119:18, Psa 147:19, Psa 147:20, Pro 22:20, Eze 20:11, Rom 3:1, Rom 7:12
but: Hos 4:6, 2Ki 17:15, 2Ki 17:16, Neh 9:26, Psa 50:17, Isa 30:9, Jer 6:16, Jer 6:17
Reciprocal: Isa 28:13 – precept upon precept Jer 8:8 – the law Jer 36:2 – write Mat 22:36 – General Mar 7:13 – the word Mar 12:24 – Do Act 17:20 – strange
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 8:12. Israel was not to be excused on the ground of ignorance, for God had written to him, the great tiling/; of my law. However, that law was ignored and treated as if it were something from the outside.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
8:12 I have written to him the great things of my law, [but] they were counted as a {i} strange thing.
(i) In this way the idolaters consider the word of God as strange with regard to their own invention.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Yahweh had been very specific about His demands in the Mosaic Covenant, but the Israelites treated them as something foreign to their lives. Ironically they had treated God’s laws as foreign, but they had imported foreign idols and practices and followed them. "Ten thousand precepts" looks at the abundant detail that God had provided His people so they would know just what to do, not at the literal number of His commands.