Hosea 4

Ho 4:1-19.

HENCEFORTH THE

PROPHET

SPEAKS

PLAINLY AND WITHOUT

SYMBOL, IN

TERSE,

SENTENTIOUS

PROPOSITIONS.

In this chapter he reproves the people and priests for their sins in the

interregnum which followed Jeroboam's death; hence there is no mention

of the king or his family; and in

Ho 4:2

bloodshed and other evils usual in a civil war are specified.

1. Israel--the ten tribes.

controversy--judicial ground of complaint

(Isa 1:18;

Jer 25:31;

Mic 6:2).

no . . . knowledge of God--exhibited in practice

(Jer 22:16).

2. they break out--bursting through every restraint.

blood toucheth blood--literally, "bloods." One act of bloodshed follows

another without any interval between (see

2Ki 15:8-16, 25;

Mic 7:2).

3. land . . . languish--

(Isa 19:8; 24:4;

Joe 1:10, 12).

sea--including all bodies of water, as pools and even rivers

(see on

Isa 19:5).

A general drought, the greatest calamity in the East, is

threatened.

4. let no man . . . reprove--Great as is the sin of

Israel, it is hopeless to reprove them; for their presumptuous guilt is

as great as that of one who refuses to obey the priest when giving

judgment in the name of Jehovah, and who therefore is to be put to

death

(De 17:12).

They rush on to their own destruction as wilfully as such a one.

thy people--the ten tribes of Israel; distinct from Judah

(Ho 4:1).

5. fall in the day--in broad daylight, a time when an attack

would not be expected (see on

Jer 6:4, 5;

Jer 15:8).

in . . . night--No time, night or day, shall be free from the slaughter

of individuals of the people, as well as of the false prophets.

thy mother--the Israelitish state, of which the citizens are the

children

(Ho 2:2).

6. lack of knowledge--"of God"

(Ho 4:1),

that is, lack of piety. Their ignorance was wilful, as the epithet,

"My people," implies; they ought to have known, having

the opportunity, as the people of God.

thou--O priest, so-called. Not regularly constituted, but still bearing

the name, while confounding the worship of Jehovah and of the calves in

Beth-el

(1Ki 12:29, 31).

I will . . . forget thy children--Not only those who then were alive

should be deprived of the priesthood, but their children who, in the

ordinary course would have succeeded them, should be set aside.

7. As they were increased--in numbers and power. Compare

Ho 4:6,

"thy children," to which their "increase" in numbers refers.

so they sinned--(Compare

Ho 10:1

and Ho 13:6).

will I change their glory into shame--that is, I will strip them of

all they now glory in (their numbers and power), and give them

shame instead. A just retribution: as they changed their glory into

shame, by idolatry

(Ps 106:20;

Jer 2:11;

Ro 1:23;

Php 3:19).

8. eat . . . sin of my people--that is, the sin offerings

(Le 6:26; 10:17).

The priests greedily devoured them.

set their heart on their iniquity--literally, "lift up the

animal soul to lust after," or strongly desire. Compare

De 24:15,

Margin;

Ps 24:4;

Jer 22:27.

The priests set their own hearts on the iniquity of the

people, instead of trying to suppress it. For the more the people

sinned, the more sacrificial victims in atonement for sin the priests

gained.

9. like people, like priest--They are one in guilt; therefore they

shall be one in punishment

(Isa 24:2).

reward them their doings--in homely phrase, "pay them back in their

own coin"

(Pr 1:31).

10. eat, and not have enough--just retribution on those who "eat up

(greedily) the sin of My people"

(Ho 4:8;

Mic 6:14;

Hag 1:6).

whoredom, and . . . not increase--literally, "break

forth"; used of giving birth to children

(Ge 28:14,

Margin; compare

Ge 38:29).

Not only their wives, but their concubines, shall be barren. To be

childless was considered a great calamity among the Jews.

11. A moral truth applicable to all times. The special reference here

is to the licentious orgies connected with the Syrian worship, which

lured Israel away from the pure worship of God

(Isa 28:1, 7;

Am 4:1).

take away the heart--that is, the understanding; make men blind to

their own true good

(Ec 7:7).

12. Instances of their understanding ("heart") being "taken away."

stocks--wooden idols

(Jer 2:27;

Hab 2:19).

staff--alluding to divination by rods

(see on

Eze 21:21, 22).

The diviner, says ROSENMULLER, threw a rod

from him, which was stripped of its bark on one side, not on the other:

if the bare side turned uppermost, it was a good omen; if the side with

the bark, it was a bad omen. The Arabs used two rods, the one marked

God bids, the other, God forbids; whichever came out first, in

drawing them out of a case, gave the omen for, or against, an

undertaking.

declareth--that is, is consulted to inform them of future events.

spirit of whoredoms--a general disposition on the part of all

towards idolatry

(Ho 5:4).

err--go astray from the true God.

from under their God--They have gone away from God under whom they

were, as a wife is under the dominion of her husband.

13. upon . . . mountains--High places were selected by idolaters on

which to sacrifice, because of their greater nearness to the heavenly

hosts which they worshipped

(De 12:2).

elms--rather, "terebinths" [MAURER].

shadow . . . good--screening the lascivious worshippers from the heat

of the sun.

daughters . . . commit whoredom . . . spouses

. . . adultery--in the polluted worship of Astarte, the

Phœnician goddess of love.

14. I will not punish . . . daughters--I will visit with the heaviest

punishments "not" the unchaste "daughters and spouses," but the fathers

and husbands; for it is these who "themselves" have set the bad example,

so that as compared with the punishment of the latter, that of the

former shall seem as nothing [MUNSTER].

separated with whores--withdrawn from the assembly of worshippers to

some receptacle of impurity for carnal connection with whores.

sacrifice with harlots--They commit lewdness with women who

devote their persons to be violated in honor of Astarte. (So the

Hebrew for "harlots" means, as distinguished from "whores").

Compare

Nu 25:1-3;

and the prohibition,

De 23:18.

not understand--

(Isa 44:18; 45:20).

shall fall--shall be cast down.

15. Though Israel's ten tribes indulge in spiritual harlotry, at

least thou, Judah, who hast the legal priesthood, and the temple

rites, and Jerusalem, do not follow her bad example.

Gilgal--situated between Jordan and Jericho on the confines of Samaria;

once a holy place to Jehovah

(Jos 5:10-15;

1Sa 10:8; 15:21);

afterwards desecrated by idol-worship

(Ho 9:15; 12:11;

Am 4:4; 5:5;

compare

Jud 3:19,

Margin).

Beth-aven--that is, "house of vanity" or idols: a name substituted

in contempt for Beth-el, "the house of God"; once sacred to Jehovah

(Ge 28:17, 19; 35:7),

but made by Jeroboam the seat of the worship of the calves

(1Ki 12:28-33; 13:1;

Jer 48:13;

Am 3:14; 7:13).

"Go up" refers to the fact that Beth-el was on a hill

(Jos 16:1).

nor swear, The Lord liveth--This formula of oath was appointed by God

Himself

(De 6:13; 10:20;

Jer 4:2).

It is therefore here forbidden not absolutely, but in conjunction with

idolatry and falsehood

(Isa 48:1;

Eze 20:39;

Zep 1:5).

16. backsliding--Translate, "Israel is refractory, as a refractory

heifer," namely, one that throws the yoke off her neck. Israel had

represented God under the form of "calves"

(1Ki 12:28);

but it is she herself who is one.

lamb in a large place--not in a good sense, as in

Isa 30:23.

Here there is irony: lambs like a large pasture; but it is not so safe

for them as a small one, duly fenced from wild beasts. God will "feed"

them, but it shall be with the "rod"

(Mic 7:14).

It shall be no longer in the narrow territory of Israel, but "in a

large place," namely, they shall be scattered in exile over the wide

realm of Assyria, a prey to their foes; as lambs, which are timid,

gregarious, and not solitary, are a prey when scattered asunder to wild

beasts.

17. Ephraim--the ten tribes. Judah was at this time not so given to

idolatry as afterwards.

joined to--closely and voluntarily; identifying themselves with them

as a whoremonger becomes one flesh with the harlot

(Nu 25:3;

1Co 6:16, 17).

idols--The Hebrew means also "sorrows," "pains," implying the pain

which idolatry brings on its votaries.

let him alone--Leave him to himself. Let him reap the fruits of his

own perverse choice; his case is desperate; say nothing to him (compare

Jer 7:16).

Here

Ho 4:15

shows the address is to Judah, to avoid the contagion of

Israel's bad example. He is bent on his own ruin; leave him to his

fate, lest, instead of saving him, thou fall thyself

(Isa 48:20;

Jer 50:8; 51:6, 45;

2Co 6:17).

18. Their drink is sour--metaphor for utter degeneracy of principle

(Isa 1:22).

Or, unbridled licentiousness; not mere ordinary sin, but as

abandoned as drunkards who vomit and smell sour with wine potations

[CALVIN]. MAURER not so well

translates, "When their drinking is over, they commit

whoredoms," namely, in honor of Astarte

(Ho 4:13, 14).

her rulers--Israel's; literally, "shields" (compare

Ps 47:9).

with shame . . . love, Give ye--

(Pr 30:15).

No remedy could be effectual against their corruptions since the very

rulers sold justice for gifts [CALVIN]. MAURER translates, "The rulers are marvelously enamored

of shame." English Version is better.

19. Israel shall be swept away from her land

(Ho 4:16)

suddenly and violently as if by "the wings of the wind"

(Ps 18:10; 104:3;

Jer 4:11, 12).

ashamed . . . of their sacrifices--disappointed to their shame in their

hope of help through their sacrifices to idols.