Bible Commentary

I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people [that] doth not understand shall fall. 14. The precedence in guilt belongs to the elders who set so wicked an example. themselves are separated … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:14”

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof [is] good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 13. upon the tops of the mountains ] ‘Every high hill and every green tree’ are repeatedly … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:13”

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused [them] to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks ] Lit., ‘My people he asketh counsel at his wood.’ Jehovah alone can give … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:12”

Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. 11. Whoredom, &c.] ‘The heart’, not ‘their heart’ (as the Targum and Peshito). It is a moral adage, showing that Hosea was not more inclined than Isaiah to abandon simple moral teaching to the class of ‘wise men’, who ‘sat in the gate’ and conveyed … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:11”

For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD. 10. they shall eat ] Greed is punished retributively by insufficiency of food (Mic 6:14; Lev 26:26); whoredom by childlessness. Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:10”

And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. 9. like people, like priest ] i.e. the priest shall fare no better than the people. His official ‘nearness’ to Jehovah shall be no safeguard to him. I will punish them ] Rather, punish … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:9”

They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. 8. They eat up the sin of my people ] The subject of the verb is evidently the priests (see Hos 4:9), and the phrase can therefore only mean, they eat the sin-offering of my people (i.e. the portion … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:8”

As they were increased, so they sinned against me: [therefore] will I change their glory into shame. 7. As they were increased ] Rather, The more they increased, the more, &c. No doubt the priestly caste shared in the general prosperity under Jeroboam II., but the official conscience, torpid to begin with, was only the … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:7”

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. 6. My people are destroyed ] The prophet cannot escape, because the people is … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:6”

Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. 5. the prophet also ] Hosea of course refers to the lower class of prophets, to whom prophecy was simply a means of livelihood (comp. Mic 3:11 and Amaziah’s words in … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 4:5”