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Text -- Hosea 4:1-13 (NET)
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Wesley -> Hos 4:2; Hos 4:2; Hos 4:3; Hos 4:3; Hos 4:3; Hos 4:4; Hos 4:4; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:7; Hos 4:7; Hos 4:7; Hos 4:7; Hos 4:8; Hos 4:8; Hos 4:8; Hos 4:10; Hos 4:10; Hos 4:11; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:13; Hos 4:13
As waters that swell above all banks.
Slaughters are multiplied; so that the end of one is the beginning of another.
Wesley: Hos 4:3 - -- God punishes man in cutting off what was made for man's benefit; and 'tis probable the tamer cattle were starved for want of grass or fodder, all bein...
God punishes man in cutting off what was made for man's benefit; and 'tis probable the tamer cattle were starved for want of grass or fodder, all being consumed by the wasting armies. The tamer either were killed by enemies, or offended with stench, forsook the country, or were devoured by birds of prey.
Wesley: Hos 4:3 - -- Whether by drying up the waters, or by corrupting them with blood and carcasses.
Whether by drying up the waters, or by corrupting them with blood and carcasses.
They are so hardened, it is to no purpose to warn them any more.
Wesley: Hos 4:4 - -- There is no modesty, or fear of God or man left among them, they will contend with their teachers, reprovers, and counsellors.
There is no modesty, or fear of God or man left among them, they will contend with their teachers, reprovers, and counsellors.
Wesley: Hos 4:5 - -- The prophet turns his speech to the people, thou O Israel; he speaks to them as to one person.
The prophet turns his speech to the people, thou O Israel; he speaks to them as to one person.
Very suddenly; your fall shall be no longer delayed.
Wesley: Hos 4:5 - -- Both the state, or kingdom; and the synagogues, or churches: the publick is as a mother to private persons, so all shall be destroyed.
Both the state, or kingdom; and the synagogues, or churches: the publick is as a mother to private persons, so all shall be destroyed.
Wesley: Hos 4:6 - -- Many were already cut off by Pul king of Assyria, and many destroyed by the bloody tyranny of Menahem.
Many were already cut off by Pul king of Assyria, and many destroyed by the bloody tyranny of Menahem.
Wesley: Hos 4:6 - -- Of God, his law, his providence, his holy nature, his hatred of sin and power to punish it.
Of God, his law, his providence, his holy nature, his hatred of sin and power to punish it.
Wesley: Hos 4:6 - -- The prophet now turns from the people to the priests, to whom he speaks as to one person.
The prophet now turns from the people to the priests, to whom he speaks as to one person.
O Israel, and you O priests, you have broken all the precepts of it.
The people of Israel, the whole kingdom of the ten tribes.
Wesley: Hos 4:7 - -- They turned all that in which they might glory above others, into sin. I will turn it into their dishonour.
They turned all that in which they might glory above others, into sin. I will turn it into their dishonour.
Probably by sin is meant sin-offering, in which the priest had his share.
Covetous, luxurious, idolatrous priests.
They shall not be nourished, nor satisfied with what they eat.
Wesley: Hos 4:10 - -- They shall not hereby increase the number of their children, either the women shall not bear, or the children shall not live.
They shall not hereby increase the number of their children, either the women shall not bear, or the children shall not live.
Deprive men of their understanding and judgment.
A heart ensnared with whoredoms, spiritual and corporal.
Shall dishonour themselves, and their families, with fornicators.
JFB -> Hos 4:1; Hos 4:1; Hos 4:1; Hos 4:2; Hos 4:2; Hos 4:3; Hos 4:3; Hos 4:4; Hos 4:4; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:5; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:6; Hos 4:7; Hos 4:7; Hos 4:7; Hos 4:8; Hos 4:8; Hos 4:9; Hos 4:9; Hos 4:10; Hos 4:10; Hos 4:11; Hos 4:11; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:12; Hos 4:13; Hos 4:13; Hos 4:13; Hos 4:13
The ten tribes.
JFB: Hos 4:2 - -- Literally, "bloods." One act of bloodshed follows another without any interval between (see 2Ki 15:8-16, 2Ki 15:25; Mic 7:2).
Literally, "bloods." One act of bloodshed follows another without any interval between (see 2Ki 15:8-16, 2Ki 15:25; Mic 7:2).
JFB: Hos 4:3 - -- 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.
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.
JFB: Hos 4:4 - -- 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 ...
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 (Deu 17:12). They rush on to their own destruction as wilfully as such a one.
JFB: Hos 4:5 - -- In broad daylight, a time when an attack would not be expected (see on Jer 6:4-5; Jer 15:8).
JFB: Hos 4:5 - -- No time, night or day, shall be free from the slaughter of individuals of the people, as well as of the false prophets.
No time, night or day, shall be free from the slaughter of individuals of the people, as well as of the false prophets.
JFB: Hos 4:6 - -- "of God" (Hos 4:1), that is, lack of piety. Their ignorance was wilful, as the epithet, "My people," implies; they ought to have known, having the opp...
"of God" (Hos 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.
JFB: Hos 4:6 - -- 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...
JFB: Hos 4:6 - -- 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, sho...
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.
JFB: Hos 4:7 - -- In numbers and power. Compare Hos 4:6, "thy children," to which their "increase" in numbers refers.
In numbers and power. Compare Hos 4:6, "thy children," to which their "increase" in numbers refers.
JFB: Hos 4:7 - -- 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 ...
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 (Psa 106:20; Jer 2:11; Rom 1:23; Phi 3:19).
JFB: Hos 4:8 - -- That is, the sin offerings (Lev 6:26; Lev 10:17). The priests greedily devoured them.
JFB: Hos 4:8 - -- Literally "lift up the animal soul to lust after," or strongly desire. Compare Deu 24:15, Margin; Psa 24:4; Jer 22:27. The priests set their own heart...
Literally "lift up the animal soul to lust after," or strongly desire. Compare Deu 24:15, Margin; Psa 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.
JFB: Hos 4:10 - -- Just retribution on those who "eat up (greedily) the sin of My people" (Hos 4:8; Mic 6:14; Hag 1:6).
JFB: Hos 4:10 - -- Literally "break forth"; used of giving birth to children (Gen 28:14, Margin; compare Gen 38:29). Not only their wives, but their concubines, shall be...
JFB: Hos 4:11 - -- A moral truth applicable to all times. The special reference here is to the licentious orgies connected with the Syrian worship, which lured Israel aw...
Instances of their understanding ("heart") being "taken away."
JFB: Hos 4:12 - -- 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,...
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.
That is, is consulted to inform them of future events.
JFB: Hos 4:12 - -- They have gone away from God under whom they were, as a wife is under the dominion of her husband.
They have gone away from God under whom they were, as a wife is under the dominion of her husband.
JFB: Hos 4:13 - -- High places were selected by idolaters on which to sacrifice, because of their greater nearness to the heavenly hosts which they worshipped (Deu 12:2)...
High places were selected by idolaters on which to sacrifice, because of their greater nearness to the heavenly hosts which they worshipped (Deu 12:2).
Screening the lascivious worshippers from the heat of the sun.
In the polluted worship of Astarte, the Phœnician goddess of love.
Clarke: Hos 4:1 - -- The Lord hath a controversy - ריב rib , what we should call a lawsuit, in which God is plaintiff, and the Israelites defendants. It is Jehovah v...
The Lord hath a controversy -
But when has God a controversy with any land? - Answer. When there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. These refer to the minds of the people. But wherever these righteous principles are wanting, there will soon be a vicious practice; hence it is added,
Clarke: Hos 4:2 - -- By swearing, and lying - Where there is no truth there will be lies and perjury; for false swearing is brought in to confirm lying statements. And w...
By swearing, and lying - Where there is no truth there will be lies and perjury; for false swearing is brought in to confirm lying statements. And when there is no mercy, killing, slaying, and murders, will be frequent. And where there is no knowledge of God, no conviction of his omnipresence and omniscience, private offenses, such as stealing, adulteries, etc., will prevail. These, sooner or later, break out, become a flood, and carry all before them. Private stealing will assume the form of a public robbery, and adulteries become fashionable, especially among the higher orders; and suits of crim. con . render them more public, scandalous, and corrupting. By the examination of witnesses, and reading of infamous letters in a court of justice, people are taught the wiles and stratagems to be used to accomplish these ends, and prevent detection; and also how to avoid those circumstances which have led to the detection of others. Every report of such matters is an experimental lecture on successful debauchery
Clarke: Hos 4:2 - -- Blood toucheth blood - Murders are not only frequent, but assassinations are mutual. Men go out to kill each other; as in our duels, the frenzy of c...
Blood toucheth blood - Murders are not only frequent, but assassinations are mutual. Men go out to kill each other; as in our duels, the frenzy of cowards; and as there is no law regarded, and no justice in the land, the nearest akin slays the murderer. Even in our land, where duels are so frequent, if a man kill his antagonist, it is murder; and so generally brought in by an honest coroner and his jury. It is then brought into court; but who is hanged for it? The very murder is considered as an affair of honor, though it began in a dispute about a prostitute; and it is directed to be brought in manslaughter; and the murderer is slightly fined for having hurried his neighbor, perhaps once his friend, into the eternal world, with all his imperfections on his head! No wonder that a land mourns where these prevail; and that God should have a controversy with it. Such crimes as these are sufficient to bring God’ s curse upon any land. And how does God show his displeasure? See the following verse.
Therefore shall the land mourn - Fruitful seasons shall be denied
Clarke: Hos 4:3 - -- That dwelleth therein shall languish - Endemic and epidemic disorders shall prevail, and multitudes shall die; so that mourning shall be found in al...
That dwelleth therein shall languish - Endemic and epidemic disorders shall prevail, and multitudes shall die; so that mourning shall be found in all quarters
Clarke: Hos 4:3 - -- The beasts of the field, and with the fowls - There is a death of cattle and domestic animals, in consequence of the badness of the season
The beasts of the field, and with the fowls - There is a death of cattle and domestic animals, in consequence of the badness of the season
Clarke: Hos 4:3 - -- The fishes of the sea also shall be taken away - Those immense shoals which at certain seasons frequent the coasts, which are caught in millions, an...
The fishes of the sea also shall be taken away - Those immense shoals which at certain seasons frequent the coasts, which are caught in millions, and become a very useful home supply, and a branch of most profitable traffic, they shall be directed by the unseen influence of God to avoid our coasts, as has frequently been the case with herrings, mackerel, pilchards, etc.; and so this source of supply and wealth has been shut up, because of the iniquities of the land.
Clarke: Hos 4:4 - -- Yet let no man strive - Or, no man contendeth. All these evils stalk abroad unreproved, for all are guilty. None can say, "Let me pluck the mote out...
Yet let no man strive - Or, no man contendeth. All these evils stalk abroad unreproved, for all are guilty. None can say, "Let me pluck the mote out of thy eye,"because he knows that "there is a beam in his own.
Clarke: Hos 4:4 - -- For thy people are - The people and the priest are alike rebels against the Lord; the priests having become idolaters, as well as the people. Bp. Ne...
For thy people are - The people and the priest are alike rebels against the Lord; the priests having become idolaters, as well as the people. Bp. Newcome renders this clause, "And as is the provocation of the priest, so is that of my people."The whole clause in the original is
Clarke: Hos 4:5 - -- Therefore shalt thou fall in the day - In the most open and public manner, without snare or ambush
Therefore shalt thou fall in the day - In the most open and public manner, without snare or ambush
Clarke: Hos 4:5 - -- And the prophet also shall fall - in the night - The false prophet, when employed in taking prognostications from stars, meteors, etc
And the prophet also shall fall - in the night - The false prophet, when employed in taking prognostications from stars, meteors, etc
Clarke: Hos 4:5 - -- And I will destroy thy mother - The metropolis or mother city. Jerusalem or Samaria is meant.
And I will destroy thy mother - The metropolis or mother city. Jerusalem or Samaria is meant.
Clarke: Hos 4:6 - -- My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - They have not the knowledge of God, nor of sacred things, nor of their own interest, nor of the dang...
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - They have not the knowledge of God, nor of sacred things, nor of their own interest, nor of the danger to which they are exposed. They walk on blindly, and perish
Clarke: Hos 4:6 - -- Because thou hast rejected knowledge - So they might have become wise, had they not rejected the means of improvement
Because thou hast rejected knowledge - So they might have become wise, had they not rejected the means of improvement
Clarke: Hos 4:6 - -- Thou shalt be no priest to me - If this be the true reading, there must be reference to some particular priest, well known, to whom these words are ...
Thou shalt be no priest to me - If this be the true reading, there must be reference to some particular priest, well known, to whom these words are personally addressed; unless by priest the whole priesthood is meant, and then it may apply to the priests of Jeroboam’ s calves.
Clarke: Hos 4:7 - -- Will I change their glory into shame - As the idolaters at Dan and Bethel have changed my glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, (Rom...
Will I change their glory into shame - As the idolaters at Dan and Bethel have changed my glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, (Rom 1:23), so will I change their glory into shame or ignominy. In the day of my wrath, their calf-gods shall not deliver them.
Clarke: Hos 4:8 - -- They eat up the sin of my people - חטאת chattath , the sin-offering, though it be offered contrary to the law; for their hearts are set on iniq...
They eat up the sin of my people -
Clarke: Hos 4:9 - -- Like people, like priest - "The priest a wanderer from the narrow way; The silly sheep, no wonder that they stray.
Like people, like priest -
"The priest a wanderer from the narrow way; The silly sheep, no wonder that they stray.
I will punish them - Both priest and people; both equally bad.
Clarke: Hos 4:10 - -- They shall eat, and not have enough - Whatever means they may use to satisfy or gratify themselves shall be ineffectual.
They shall eat, and not have enough - Whatever means they may use to satisfy or gratify themselves shall be ineffectual.
Whoredom and wine - These debaucheries go generally together
Clarke: Hos 4:11 - -- Take away the heart - Darken the understanding, deprave the judgment, pervert the will, debase all the passions, etc.
Take away the heart - Darken the understanding, deprave the judgment, pervert the will, debase all the passions, etc.
At their stocks - They consult their wooden gods
Clarke: Hos 4:12 - -- And their staff declareth - They use divination by rods; see the note on Ezekiel 21 (note), where this sort of divination (rabdomancy) is explained.
And their staff declareth - They use divination by rods; see the note on Ezekiel 21 (note), where this sort of divination (rabdomancy) is explained.
Clarke: Hos 4:13 - -- Under oaks - אלון allon , from אלל alal , he was strong. Hence, the oak, in Latin, is called robur ; which word means also, strength, the ...
Under oaks -
Clarke: Hos 4:13 - -- The shadow thereof is good - Their "daughters committed whoredom, and their spouses committed adultery.
1. Their deities were wors...
The shadow thereof is good - Their "daughters committed whoredom, and their spouses committed adultery.
1. Their deities were worshipped by prostitution
2. They drank much in their idol worship, Hos 4:11, and thus their passions became inflamed
3. The thick groves were favorable to the whoredoms and adulteries mentioned here. In imitation of these, some nations have their public gardens.
Calvin: Hos 4:1 - -- This is a new discourse by the Prophet, separate from his former discourses. We must bear in mind that the Prophets did not literally write what they...
This is a new discourse by the Prophet, separate from his former discourses. We must bear in mind that the Prophets did not literally write what they delivered to the people, nor did they treat only once of those things which are now extant with us; but we have in their books collected summaries and heads of those matters which they were wont to address to the people. Hosea, no doubt, very often descanted on the exile and the restoration of the people, forasmuch as he dwelt much on all the things which we have hitherto noticed. Indeed, the slowness and dullness of the people were such, that the same things were repeated daily. But it was enough for the Prophets to make and to write down a brief summary of what they taught in their discourses.
Hosea now relates how vehemently he reproved the people, because every kind of corruption so commonly prevailed, that there was no sound part in the whole community. We hence see what the Prophet treats of now; and this ought to be observed, for hypocrites wish ever to be flattered; and when the mercy of God is offered to them, they seek to be freed from every fear. It is therefore a bitter thing to them, when threatening are mingled, when God sharply chides them. “What! we heard yesterday a discourse on God’s mercy, and now he fulminates against us. He is then changeable; if he were consistent, would not his manner of teaching be alike and the same today?” But men must be often awakened, for forgetfulness of God often creeps over them; they indulge themselves, and nothing is more difficult than to lead them to God; nay, when they have made some advances, they soon turn aside to some other course.
We hence see that men cannot be taught, except God reproves their sins by his word; and then, lest they despond, gives them a hope of mercy; and except he again returns to reproofs and threatening. This is the mode of address which we find in all the Prophets.
I now come to the Prophet’s words: Hear, he says, the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel, the Lord has a dispute, etc. The Prophet, by saying that the Lord had a dispute with the inhabitants of the land, intimates that men in vain flatter themselves, when they have God against them, and that they shall soon find him to be their Judge, except they in time anticipate his vengeance. But he also reminds the Israelites that God had a dispute with them, that they might not have to feel the severity of justice, but reconcile themselves to God, while a seasonable opportunity was given them. Then the Prophet’s introduction had this object in view — to make the Israelites to know that God would be adverse to them, except they sought, without delay, to regain his favor. The Lord then, since he declared that he would contend with them, shows that he was not willing to do so. for had God determined to punish the people, what need was there of this warning? Could he not instantly execute judgment on them? Since, then, the Prophet was sent to the children of Israel to warn them of a great and fatal danger, God had still a regard for their safety: and doubtless this warning prevailed with many; for those who were alarmed by this denunciation humbled themselves before God, and hardened not themselves in wickedness: and the reprobate, though not amended, were yet rendered twice less excusable.
The same is the case among us, whenever God threatens us with judgment: they who are not altogether intractable or unhealable, confess their guilt, and deprecate God’s wrath; and others, though they harden their hearts in wickedness, cannot yet quench the power of truth; for the Lord takes from them every pretext for ignorance, and conscience wounds them more deeply, after they have been thus warned
We now then understand what the Prophet meant by saying, that God had a dispute with the inhabitants of the land. But that the Prophet’s intention may be more clear to us, we must bear in mind, that he and other faithful teachers were wearied with crying, and that in the meantime no fruit appeared. He saw that his warnings were heedlessly despised, and that hence his last resort was to summon men to God’s tribunal. We also are constrained, when we prevail nothing, to follow the same course: “God will judge you; for no one will bear to be judged by his word: whatever we announce to you in his name, is counted a matter of sport: he himself at length will show that he has to do with you.” In a similar strain does Zechariah speak,
‘They shall look on him whom they have pierced,’
(Zec 12:10 :)
and to the same purpose does Isaiah say, that the Spirit of the Lord was made sad.
‘Is it not enough,’ he says, ‘that ye should be vexatious to men, except ye be so also to my God?’ (Isa 7:13.)
The Prophet joined himself with God; for the ungodly king Ahab, by tempting God, did at the same time trifle with his Prophets.
There is then here an implied contrast between the dispute which God announces respecting the Israelites, and the daily strifes he had with them by his Prophets. For this reason also the Lord said,
‘My Spirit shall no more strive with man, for he is flesh,’
(Gen 6:3.)
God indeed says there, that he had waited in vain for men to return to the right way; for they were refractory beyond any hope of repentance: he therefore declared, that he would presently punish them. So also in this place, ‘“The Lord has a trial at law”; he will now himself plead his own cause: he has hitherto long exercised his Prophets in contending with you; yea, he has wearied them with much and continual labour; ye remain ever like yourselves; he will therefore begin now to plead effectually his own cause with you: he will no more speak to you by the mouth, but by his power, show himself a judge.’ The Prophet, however, designedly laid down the word, dispute, that the Israelites might know that God would severely treat them, not without cause, nor unjustly, as though he said, “God will so punish you as to show at the same time that he will do so for the best reason: ye elude all threatenings; ye think that you can make yourselves safe by your shifts: there are no evasions by which you can possibly hope to attain any thing; for God will at length uncover all your wickedness.” In short, the Prophet here joins punishment with God’s justice, or he points out by one word, a real (so to speak) or an effectual contention, by which the Lord not only reproves men in words, but also visits with judgment their sins.
It follows, Because there is no truth, no kindness, no knowledge of God. The dispute, he said, was to be with the inhabitants of the land: by the inhabitants of the land, he means the whole body of the people; as though he said, “Not a few men have become corrupt, but all kinds of wickedness prevail everywhere.” And for the same reason he adds, that there was no truth”, etc. in the land; as though he said, “They who sin hide not themselves now in lurking-places; they seek no recesses, like those who are ashamed; but so much licentiousness is everywhere dominant, that the whole land is filled with the contempt of God and with crimes.” This was a severe reproof to proud men. How much the Israelites flattered themselves, we know; it was therefore necessary for the Prophet to speak thus sharply to a refractory people; for a gentle and kind warning proves effectual only to the meek and teachable. When the world grows hardened against God, such a rigorous treatment as the words of the Prophet disclose must be used. Let those then, to whom is intrusted the charge of teaching, see that they do not gently warn men, when hardened in their vices; but let them follow this vehemence of the Prophet.
We said at the beginning, that the Prophet had a good reason for being so warm in his indignation: he was not at the moment foolishly carried away by the heat of zeal; but he knew that he had to do with men so perverse, that they could not be handled in any other way. The Prophet now reproves not only one kind of evil, but brings together every sort of crimes; as though he said, that the Israelites were in every way corrupt and perverted. He says first, that there was among them no faithfulness, and no kindness. He speaks here of their contempt of the second table of the law; for by this the impiety of men is sooner found out, that is, when an examination is made of their life: for hypocrites vauntingly profess the name of God, and confidently ( plenis buccis — with full cheeks) arrogate faith to themselves; and then they cover their vices with the external show of divine worship, and frigid acts of devotion: nay, the very thing mentioned by Jeremiah is too commonly the case, that
‘the house of God is made a den of thieves,’
(Jer 7:11.)
Hence the Prophets, that they might drag the ungodly to the light, examine their conduct according to the duties of love: “Ye are right worshipers of God, ye are most holy; but in the meantime, where is truth, where is mutual faithfulness, where is kindness? If ye are not men, how can ye be angels? Ye are given to avarice, ye are perfidious, ye are cruel: what more can be said of you, except that each of you condemns all the rest before God, and that your life is also condemned by all?’
By saying that truth or faithfulness was extinct, he makes them to be like foxes, who are ever deceitful: by saying that there was no kindness, he accuses them of cruelty, as though he said, that they were like lions and wild beasts. But the fountain of all these vices he points out in the third clause, when he says, that they had no knowledge of God: and the knowledge of God he takes for the fear of God which proceeds from the knowledge of him; as though he said, “In a word, men go on as licentiously, as if they did not think that there is a God in heaven, as if all religion was effaced from their hearts.” For as long as any knowledge of God remains in us, it is like a bridle to restrain us: but when men become wanton, and allow themselves every liberty, it is certain that they have forgotten God, and that there is in them now no knowledge of God. Hence the complaints in the Psalms,
‘The ungodly have said in their heart, There is no God,’
(Psa 14:1 :)
‘Impiety speaks in my heart, There is no God.’ Men cannot run headlong into brutal stupidity, while a spark of the true knowledge of God shines or twinkles in their minds. We now then perceive the real meaning of the Prophet.
Calvin: Hos 4:2 - -- But after having said that they were full of perfidiousness and cruelty, he adds, By cursing, and lying, and killing, etc. , אלה , ale, means ...
But after having said that they were full of perfidiousness and cruelty, he adds, By cursing, and lying, and killing, etc. ,
But he enumerates particulars in order more effectually to check the fierceness of the people; for the wicked, we know, do not easily bend their neck: they first murmur, then they clamour against wholesome instruction, and at last they rage with open fury, and break out into violence, when they cannot otherwise stop the progress of sound doctrine. How ever this may be, we see that they are not easily led to own their sins. This is the reason why the Prophet shows here, by stating particulars, in how many ways they provoked God’s wrath: ‘Lo,’ he says ‘cursings, lyings, murder, thefts, adulteries, abound among you.’ And the Prophet seems here to allude to the precepts of the law; as though he said, “If any one compares your life with the law of God, he will find that you avowedly and designedly lead such a life, as proves that you fight against God, that you violate every part of his law.”
But it must be here observed, that he speaks not of such thieves or murderers as are led in our day to the gallows, or are otherwise punished. On the contrary, he calls them thieves and murderers and adulterers, who were in high esteem, and eminent in honor and wealth, and who, in short, were alone illustrious among the people of Israel: such did the Prophet brand with these disgraceful names, calling them murderers and thieves. So also does Isaiah speak of them, ‘Thy princes are robbers and companions of thieves,’ (Isa 1:23.) And we already reminded you, that the Prophet addresses not his discourses to few men, but to the whole people; for all, from the least to the greatest, had fallen away.
He afterwards says, They have broken out. The expression no doubt is to be taken metaphorically, as though he said, “There are now no bonds, no barriers.” For the people so raged against God, that no modesty, no shame on account of the law, no religion, no fear, prevailed among them, or checked their intractable spirit. Hence they broke out. By the word, breaking out, the Prophet sets forth the furious wantonness seen in the reprobate; when freed from the fear of God, they abandon themselves to what is sinful, without any moderation, without any restraint.
And to the same purpose he subjoins, Bloods are contiguous to bloods. By bloods he means all the worst crimes: and he says that bloods were close to bloods, because they joined crimes together, and as Isaiah says, that iniquity was as it were a train; so our Prophet says here, that such was the common liberty they took to sin, that wherever he turned his eyes, he could see no part free from wickedness. Then bloods are contiguous to bloods, that is, everywhere is seen the horrible spectacle of crimes. This is the meaning. It now follows —
Calvin: Hos 4:3 - -- The Prophet now expresses more clearly the dispute which he mentions in the first verse; and it now evidently appears, that it was not a judgment exp...
The Prophet now expresses more clearly the dispute which he mentions in the first verse; and it now evidently appears, that it was not a judgment expressed in words, for God had in vain tried to bring the people to the right way by threats and reproofs: he had contended enough with then; they remained refractory; hence he adds, “Now mourn shall the whole land”; that is, God has now resolved to execute his judgment: there is therefore no use for you any more to contrive any evasion, as you have been hitherto wont to do; for God stretches forth his hand for your ultimate destruction. Mourn, therefore, shall the land, and cut off shall be every one that dwells in it, as I prefer to render it; unless the Prophet, it may be, means, that though God should for a time suspend the last judgment, yet the Israelites would gain nothing, seeing that they would, by continual languor, pine away. But as he mentions mourning in the first place, the former meaning, that God would destroy all the inhabitants, seems more appropriate. He adds, gathered shall they be all, or destroyed, (for either may suit the place,) from the beast of the field, and the bird of heaven, to the fishes of the sea. The Prophet here enlarges on the greatness of God’s wrath; for he includes even the innocent beasts and the birds of heaven, yea, the fishes of the sea. When Godly vengeance extends to brute animals, what will become of men?
But some one may here object and say, that it is unworthy of God to be angry with miserable creatures, which deserve no such treatment: for why should God be angry with fishes and beasts? But an answer may be easily given: As beasts, and birds, and fishes, and, in a word, all other things, have been created for the use of men, it is no wonder that God should extend the tokens of his curse to all creatures, above and below, when his purpose is to punish men. We seek, indeed, for the most part, some vain comforts to delight us, or to moderate our sorrows when God shows himself angry with us: but when God curses innocent animals for our sake, we then dread the more, except, indeed, we be under the influence of extreme stupor.
We now then understand why God here denounces destruction on brute animals as well as on birds and fishes of the sea; it is, that men may know themselves to be deprived of all his gifts; as when a person, in order to expose a wicked man to shame, pulls down his house and burns his whole furniture: so also does God do, who has adorned the world with so much and such varied wealth for our sake, when he reduces all things to a waste: He thereby shows how grievously offended he is with us, and thus constrains us to become humble. This then is the Prophet’s meaning.
Calvin: Hos 4:4 - -- The Prophet here deplores the extreme wickedness of the people, that they would bear no admonitions, like those who, being past hope, reject every ad...
The Prophet here deplores the extreme wickedness of the people, that they would bear no admonitions, like those who, being past hope, reject every advice, admit no physicians, and dislike all remedies: and it is a proof of irreclaimable wickedness, when men close their ears and harden their hearts against all salutary counsels. Hence the Prophet intimates, that, together with their great and many corruptions, there was such waywardness, that no one dared to reprove the public vices.
He adds this reason, For the people are as chiders of the priest, or, they really contend with the priest: for some take
Let us now return to the Prophet’s words. But, he says:
And he enlarges on the subject by saying, that they were as chiders of the priest; for he declares, that they who, with impunity, conducted themselves so wantonly against God, were not yet content in being so wayward as to repel all reproofs, but also willfully rose up against their own teachers: and, as I have already said, common observation sufficiently proves, that all profane despisers of God are inflated with such confidence, that they dare to attack others. Some conjecture, in this instance, that the priest was so base, as to become liable to universal reprobation; but this conjecture is of no weight, and frigid: for the Prophet here did not draw his pen against a single individual, but, on the contrary, sharply reproved, as we have said, the perverseness of the people, that no one would hearken to a reprover. Let us then know that their diseases were then incurable, when the people became hardened against salutary counsels, and could not bear to be any more reproved. It follows —
Calvin: Hos 4:5 - -- The copulative is to be taken here for an illative, Fall, therefore, shalt thou. Here God denounces vengeance on refractory men; as though he said, ...
The copulative is to be taken here for an illative, Fall, therefore, shalt thou. Here God denounces vengeance on refractory men; as though he said, “As ye pay no regard to my authority, when by words I reprove you, I will not now deal with you in this way; but I will visit you for this contempt of my word.” And thus God is wont to do: he first tries men, or he makes the trial, whether they can be brought to repentance; he severely reproves them, and expostulates with them: but having tried all means by words, he then comes to the last remedy, by exercising his power; for, as it has been said, he deigns no longer to contend with men. Hence the Lord, when he saw that his Prophets were despised, and that their whole teaching was a matter of sport, determined, as it appears from this passage, that the people should shortly be destroyed.
Some render
It is evident enough that Hosea speaks not here of God’s true and faithful ministers, but of impostors, who deceived the people by their blandishments, as it is usually the case: for as soon as any Prophet sincerely wished to discharge his office for God, there came forth flatterers before the public, — “This man is too rigid, and makes a wrong use of God’s name, by denouncing so grievous a punishment; we are God’s people.” Such, then, were the Prophets, we must remember, who are here referred to; for few were those who then faithfully discharged their office; and there was a great number of those who were indulgent to the people and to their vices.
It is afterwards added, I will also consume thy mother. The term, mother, is to be taken here for the Church, on account of which the Israelites, we know, were wont to exult against God; as the Papists do at this day, who boast of their mother church, which, as they say, is their shield of Ajax. When any one points out their corruptions, they instantly flee to this protection, — “What! Are we not the Church of God?” Hence when the Prophet saw that the Israelites made a wrong use of this falsely-assumed title, he said, ‘I will also destroy your mother,’ that is, “This your boasting, and the dignity of Abraham’s race, and the sacred name of Church, will not prevent God from taking dreadful vengeance on you all; for he will tear from the roots and abolish the very name of your mother; he will disperse that smoke of which you boast, inasmuch as you hide your crimes under the title of Church.” It follows —
Calvin: Hos 4:6 - -- Here the Prophet distinctly touches on the idleness of the priests, whom the Lord, as it is well known, had set over the people. For though it could ...
Here the Prophet distinctly touches on the idleness of the priests, whom the Lord, as it is well known, had set over the people. For though it could not have availed to excuse the people, or to extenuate their fault, that the priests were idle; yet the Prophet justly inveighs against them for not having performed the duty allotted to them by God. But what is said applies not to the priests only; for God, at the same time, indirectly blames the voluntary blindness of the people. For how came it, that pure instruction prevailed not among the Israelites, except that the people especially wished that it should not? Their ignorance, then, as they say, was gross; as is the case with many ungodly men at this day, who not only love darkness, but also draw it around them on every side, that they may have some excuse for their ignorance.
God then does here, in the first place, attack the priests, but he includes also the whole people; for teaching prevailed not, as it ought to have done, among them. The Lord also reproaches the Israelites for their ingratitude; for he had kindled among them the light of celestial wisdom; inasmuch as the law, as it is well known, must have been sufficient to direct men in the right way. It was then as though God himself did shine forth from heaven, when he gave them his law. How, then, did the Israelites perish through ignorance? Even because they closed their eyes against the celestial light, because they deigned not to become teachable, so as to learn the wisdom of the eternal Father. We hence see that the guilt of the people, as it has been said, is not here extenuated, but that God, on the contrary, complains, that they had malignantly suppressed the teaching of the law: for the law was fit to guide them. The people perished without knowledge, because they would perish.
But the Prophet denounces vengeance on the priests, as well as on the whole people, Because knowledge hast thou rejected, he says, I also will thee reject, so that the priesthood thou shalt not discharge for me. This is specifically addressed to the priests: the Lord accuses them of having rejected knowledge. But knowledge, as Malachi says, was to be sought from their lips, (Mal 2:7) and Moses also touches on the same point in Deu 33:10. It was then an extreme wickedness in the priests, as though they wished to subvert God’s sacred order, when they sought the honor and the dignity of the office without the office itself: and such is the case with the Papists of the present day; they are satisfied with its dignity and its wealth. Mitred bishops are prelates, are chief priests; they vauntingly boast that they are the heads of the Church, and would be deemed equal with the Apostles: at the same time, who of them attends to his office? nay, they think that it would be in a manner a disgrace to give attention to their office and to God’s call.
We now then see what the Prophet meant by saying, Because thou hast knowledge rejected, I also will thee reject, so that thou shalt not discharge for me the priesthood. In a word, he shows that the divorce, which the priests attempted to make, was absurd, and contrary to the nature of things, that it was monstrous, and in short impossible. Why? Because they wished to retain the title and its wealth, they wished to be deemed prelates of the Church, without knowledge: God allows not things joined together by a sacred knot to be thus torn asunder. “Dost thou then,” he says, “take to thyself the office without knowledge? Nay, as thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also take to myself the honor of the priesthood, which I previously conferred on thee.”
This is a remarkable passage, and by it we can check the furious boasting of the Papists, when they haughtily force upon us their hierarchy and the order, as they call it, of their clergy, that is, of their corrupt dregs: for God declares by his word, that it is impossible that there should be any priest without knowledge. And further, he would not have priests to be endued with knowledge only, and to be as it were mute; for he would have the treasure deposited with them to be communicated to the whole Church. God then, in speaking of sacerdotal knowledge, includes also preaching. Though one indeed be a literate, as there have been some in our age among the bishops and cardinals, — though then there be such he is not yet to be classed among the learned; for, as it has been said, sacerdotal learning is the treasure of the whole Church. When therefore a boast is made of the priesthood, with no regard to the ministration of the word, it is a mere mockery; for teacher and priest are, as they say, almost convertible terms. We now perceive the meaning of the first clause.
It then follows, Because thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Some confine this latter clause to the priests, and think that it forms a part of the same context: but when any one weighs more fully the Prophet’s words, he will find that this refers to the body of the people.
This Prophet is in his sentences often concise, and so his transitions are various and obscure: now he speaks in his own person, then he assumes the person of God; now he turns his discourse to the people, then he speaks in the third person; now he reproves the priests, then immediately he addresses the whole people. There seemed to be first a common denunciation, ‘Thou shalt fall in the day, the Prophet in the night shall follow, and your mother shall perish.’ The Prophet now, I doubt not, confirms the same judgment in other words: and, in the first place, he advances this proposition, that the priests were idle, and that the people quenched the light of celestial instruction; afterwards he denounces on the priests the judgment they deserved, ‘I will cast thee away,’ he says, ‘from the priesthood;’ now he comes to all the Israelites, and says, Thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Now this fault was doubtless what belonged to the whole people; there was no one exempt from this sin; and this forgetfulness was fitly ascribed to the whole people. For how it happened, that the priests had carelessly shaken off from their shoulders the burden of teaching the people? Even because the people were unwilling to have their ears annoyed: for the ungodly complain that God’s servants are troublesome, when they daily cry against their vices. Hence the people gladly entered into a truce with their teachers, that they might not perform their office: thus the oblivion of God’s law crept in.
As then the Prophet had denounced on the priests their punishment, so he now assures the whole people that God would bring a dreadful judgment on them all, that he would even blot out the whole race of Abraham, I will forget, he says, thy children. Why was this? The Lord had made a covenant with Abraham, which was to continue, and to be confirmed to his posterity: they departed from the true faith, they became spurious children; then God rightly testifies here, that he had a just cause why he should no longer count this degenerate people among the children of Abraham. How so? “For ye have forgotten my law,” he says: “had you remembered the law, I would also have kept my covenant with you: but I will no more remember my covenant, for you have violated it. Your children, therefore, deserve not to be under finch a covenant, inasmuch as ye are such a people.” It follows —
Calvin: Hos 4:7 - -- Here the Prophet amplifies the wickedness and impiety of the people, by adding this circumstance, that they the more perversely wantoned against God,...
Here the Prophet amplifies the wickedness and impiety of the people, by adding this circumstance, that they the more perversely wantoned against God, the more bountiful he was to them, yea, when he poured upon them riches in full exuberance. Such a complaint we have before noticed: but the Prophets, we know, did not speak only once of the same thing; when they saw that they effected nothing, that the contempt of God still prevailed, they found it necessary to repeat often what they had previously said. Here then the Prophet accuses the Israelites of having shamefully abused the indulgence of God, of having allowed themselves greater liberty in sinning, when God so kindly and liberally dealt with them.
Some confine this to the priests, and think the meaning to be, that they sinned more against God since he increased the Levitical tribe and added to their wealth: but the Prophet, I doubt not, meant to include the whole people. He, indeed, in the last verse, separated the crimes of the priests from those of the people, though in the beginning he advanced a general propositions: he now returns to that statement, which is, that all, from the highest to the lowest, acted impiously and wickedly against God. Now we know that the Israelites had increased in number as well as in wealth; for they were prosperous, as it has been stated, under the second Jeroboam; and thought themselves then extremely happy, because they were filled with every abundance. Hence God shows now that they had become worse and less excusable, for they were grown thus wanton, like a horse well-fed, when he kicks against his own master, — a comparison which even Moses uses in his song, (Deu 32:15.) We now see what the Prophet means. Hence, when he says
He afterwards subjoins, Their glory will I turn to shame. He here denounces God’s judgment on proud men, which they feared not: for men, we know, are blinded by prosperity. And it is the worst kind of drunkenness, when we seem to ourselves to be happy; for then we allow ourselves every thing that is contrary to God, and are deaf to all instruction, and are, in short, wholly intractable. But the Prophet says, I will commute this glory into shame, which means, “There is no reason for them to trust in themselves, and foolishly to impose on themselves, by fixing their eyes on their present splendor; for it is in my power,” the Lord says, “to change their glory.” We then see that the Prophet meant here to shake off from the Israelites their vain confidence; for they were wont to set up against God their riches, their glory, their power, their horses and chariots. “This is your glorying; but in my hand and power is adversity and prosperity; yea,” the Lord says, “on me alone depends the changing of glory into shame.” But at the same time, the Prophet intimates, that it could not be that God would thus prostitute his blessings to unworthy men as to swine: for it is a kind of profanation, when men are thus proud against God, while he bears with them, while he spares them. This combination then applies to all who abuse God’s kindness; for the Lord intends not that his favor should be thus profaned. It follows —
Calvin: Hos 4:8 - -- This verse has given occasion to many interpreters to think that all the particulars we have noticed ought to be restricted to the priests alone: but...
This verse has given occasion to many interpreters to think that all the particulars we have noticed ought to be restricted to the priests alone: but there is no sufficient reason for this. We have already said, that the Prophet is wont frequently to pass from the people to the priests: but as a heavier guilt belonged to the priests, he very often inveighs against them, as he does in this place, They eat, he says, the sin of my people, and lift up to their iniquity his soul, that is, ‘every one lifts up his own soul,’ or, ‘they lift up the soul of the sinner by iniquity;’ for the pronoun applies to the priests as well as to the people. The number is changed: for he says,
We may understand him as saying, that the priests lifted up their souls to the iniquity of the people, because they anxiously wished the people to be given to many vices, for they hoped thereby to gain much prey, as the case is, when any one expects a reward from robbers: he is glad to hear that they become rich, for he considers their riches to be for his gain. So it was with the priests, who gaped for lucre; they thought that they were going on well, when the people brought many sacrifices. And this is usually the case, when the doctrine of the law is adulterated, and when the ungodly think that this alone remains for them, — to satisfy God with sacrifices, and similar expiations. Then, if we apply the passage to the priests, the lifting up of the soul is the lust for gain. But if we prefer to apply the words to sinners themselves, the sense is, ‘Upon their iniquity they lift up their soul,’ that is, the guilty raise up themselves by false comforts, and extenuate their vices; or, by their own flatteries, bury and entirely smother every remnant of God’s fear. Then, according to this second sense, to lift up the soul is to deceive, and to take away all doubts by vain comforts, or to remove every sorrow, and to erase every guilt by a false notion.
I come now to the meaning of the whole. Though the Prophet here accuses the priests, yet he involves, no doubt, the whole people, and deservedly, in the same guilt: for how was it that the priests expected gain from sacrifices? Even because the doctrine of the law was subverted. God had instituted sacrifices for this end, that whosoever sinned, being reminded of his guilt, might mourn for his sin, and further, that by witnessing that sad spectacle, his conscience might be more wounded: when he saw the innocent animal slain at the altar, he ought to have dreaded God’s judgment. Besides, God also intended to exercise the faith of all, in order that they might flee to the expiation which was to be made by the promised Mediator. And at the same time, the penalty which God then laid on sinners, ought to have been as a bridle to restrain them. In a word, the sacrifices had, in every way, this as their object, — to keep the people from being so ready or so prone to sin. But what did the ungodly do? They even mocked God, and thought that they had fully done their duty, when they offered an ox or a lamb; and afterwards they freely indulged themselves in their sins.
So gross a folly has been even laughed to scorn by heathen writers. Even Plato has so spoken of such sacrifices, as to show that those who would by such trifles make a bargain with God, are altogether ungodly: and certainly he so speaks in his second book on the Commonwealth, as though he meant to describe the Papacy. For he speaks of purgatory, he speaks of satisfactions; and every thing the Papists of this day bring forward, Plato in that book distinctly sets forth as being altogether sottish and absurd. But yet in all ages this assurance has prevailed, that men have thought themselves delivered from God’s hand, when they offered some sacrifice: it is, as they imagine, a compensation.
Hence the Prophet now complains of this perversion, They eat, he says, (for he speaks of a continued act,) the sins of my people, and to iniquity they lift up the heart of each; that is, When all sin, one after the other, each one is readily absolved, because he brings a gift to the priests. It is the same thing as though the Prophet said, “There is a collusion between them, between the priests and the people.” How so? Because the priests were the associates of robbers, and gladly seized on what was brought: and so they carried on no war, as they ought to have done, with vices, but on the contrary urged only the necessity of sacrifices: and it was enough, if men brought things plentifully to the temple. The people also themselves showed their contempt of God; for they imagined, that provided they made satisfaction by their ceremonial performances, they would be exempt from punishment. Thus then there was an ungodly compact between the priests and the people: the Lord was mocked in the midst of them. We now then understand the real meaning of the Prophet: and thus I prefer the latter exposition as to ‘the lifting up of the soul,’ which is, that the priests lifted up the soul of each, by relieving their consciences, by soothing words of flattery, and by promising life, as Ezekiel says, to souls doomed to die, (Eze 13:19.) It now follows —
Calvin: Hos 4:9 - -- The Prophet here again denounces on both a common punishment, as neither was free from guilt. As the people, he says, so shall be the priest; that ...
The Prophet here again denounces on both a common punishment, as neither was free from guilt. As the people, he says, so shall be the priest; that is “I will spare neither the one nor the other; for the priest has abused the honor conferred on him; for though divinely appointed over the Church for this purpose, to preserve the people in piety and holy life, he has yet broken through and violated every right principle: and then the people themselves wished to have such teachers, that is, such as were mute. I will therefore now” the Lord says, “inflict punishment on them all alike. As the people then, so shall the priest be.”
Some go farther, and say, that it means that God would rob the priests of their honor, that they might differ nothing from the people; which is indeed true: but then they think that the Prophet threatens not others as well as the priests; which is not true. For though God, when he punishes the priests and the people for the contempt of his law, blots out the honor of the priesthood, and so abolishes it as to produce an equality between the great and the despised; yet the Prophet declares here, no doubt, that God would become the vindicator of his law against other sinners as well as against the priests. This subject expands wider than what they mean. The rest we must defer till to-morrow.
Calvin: Hos 4:10 - -- I now return to that passage of the Prophet, in which he says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied, and again, They shall play the wanton and...
I now return to that passage of the Prophet, in which he says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied, and again, They shall play the wanton and shall not increase; because Jehovah have they left off to attend to. The Prophet here again proclaims the judgment which was nigh the Israelites. And first, he says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied; in which he alludes to the last verse. For the priests gaped for gain, and their only care was to satisfy their appetites. Since then their cupidity was insatiable, which was also the cause why they conceded sinful liberty to the people, he now says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied. The Prophet intimates further by these words, that men are not sustained by plenty or abundance of provisions, but rather by the blessing of God: for a person may devour much, yet the quantity, however large, may not satisfy him; and this we find to be often the case as to a voracious appetite; for in such an instance, the staff of bread is broken, that is, the Lord takes away support from bread, so that much eating does not satisfy. And this is the Prophet’s meaning, when he says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied The priests thought it a happy time with them, when they gathered great booty from every quarter; God on the contrary declares, that it would be empty and useless to them; for no satisfying effect would follow: however much they might greedily swallow up, they would not yet be satisfied.
He afterwards adds, They shall play the wanton and shall not increase; that is, “However much they might give the reins to promiscuous lusts, I will not yet suffer them to propagate: so far shall they be from increasing or generating an offspring by lawful marriages, that were they everywhere to indulge in illicit intercourse, they would still continue barren.” The Prophet here, in a word, testifies that the ungodly are deceived, when they think that they can obtain their wishes by wicked and unlawful means; for the Lord will frustrate their desires. The avaricious think, when they have much, that they are sufficiently defended against all want; and when penury presses on all others, they think themselves beyond the reach of danger. But the Lord derides this folly: “Gather, gather great heaps; but I will blow on your riches, that they may vanish, or at least yield you no advantage. So also strive to beget children; though one may marry ten wives, or everywhere play the wanton, he shall still remain childless.” Thus we see that a just punishment is inflicted on profane men, when they indulge their own lusts: they indeed promise to themselves a happy issue; but God, on the other hand, pronounces upon them his curse.
He then adds, They have left Jehovah to attend, that is that they may not attend or serve him. Here the Prophet points out the source and the chief cause of all evils, and that is, because the Israelites had forsaken the true God and his worship. Though they indeed retained the name of God, and were wont, even boldly, to set up this plea against the Prophets, that they were the children of Abraham, and the chosen of the supreme God, he yet says that they were apostates. How so? Because whosoever keeps faith with God, keeps himself also under the tuition of his word, and wanders not after his own inventions; but the Israelites indulged themselves in any thing they pleased. Since then it is certain that they had shaken off the yoke of the law, it is no wonder that the Prophet says, that they had departed from the Lord. But we ought to notice the confirmation of this truth, that no one can continue to keep faith with God, except he observes his word and remains under its tuition. Let us now proceed —
Calvin: Hos 4:11 - -- The verb לקח lakech, means to take away; and this sense is also admissible that wine and wantonness take possession of the heart; but I take i...
The verb
It is indeed true, that when any one becomes addicted to wantonness, he loses both modesty and a right mind, and also that wine is as it were poisonous, for it is, as one has said, a mixed poison: and the earth, when it sees its own blood drank up intemperately, takes its revenge on men. These things are true; but let us see what the Prophet meant.
Now, as I have said, he simply directs his discourse to the Israelites, and says, that they were sottish and senseless, because the Lord had dealt too liberally with them. For, as I have said, the kingdom of Israel was then very opulent, and full of all kinds of luxury. The Prophet then touches now distinctly on this very thing: “How comes it that ye are now so senseless, that there is not a particle of right understanding among you? Even because ye are given to excesses, because there is among you too large an abundance of all good things: hence it is, that all indulge their own lusts; and these take away your heart.” In short, God means here that the Israelites abused his blessings, and that excesses blinded them. This is the meaning. Let us now go on —
Calvin: Hos 4:12 - -- The Prophet calls here the Israelites the people of God, not to honor them, but rather to increase their sin; for the more heinous was the perfidy of...
The Prophet calls here the Israelites the people of God, not to honor them, but rather to increase their sin; for the more heinous was the perfidy of the people, that having been chosen, they had afterwards forsaken their heavenly Father. Hence My people: there is here an implied comparison between all other nations and the seed of Abraham, whom God had adopted; “This is, forsooth! the people whom I designed to be sacred to myself, whom of all nations in the world I have taken to myself: they are my heritage. Now this people, who ought to be mine, consult their own wood, and their staff answers them!” We hence see that it was a grievous and severe reprobation when the Lord reminded them of the invaluable kindness with which he had favored the children of Abraham.
So at this day our guilt will be more grievous, if we continue not in the pure worship of God, since God has called us to himself and designed us to be his peculiar flock. The same thing that the Prophet brought against the Israelites may be also brought against the Papists; for as soon as infants are born among them, the Lord signs them with the sacred symbol of baptism; they are therefore in some sense ( aliqua ex parte ) the people of God. We see, at the same time, how gross and abominable are the superstitions which prevail among them: there are none more stupid than they are. Even the Turks and the Saracenes are wise when compared with them. How great, then, and how shameful is this baseness, that the Papists, who boast themselves to be the people of God, should go astray after their own mad follies!
But the Prophet says the Israelites “consulted” their own wood, or inquired of wood. He no doubt accuses them here of having transferred the glory of the only true God to their own idols, or fictitious gods. They consult, he says, their own wood, and the staff answers them. He seems, in the second clauses to allude to the blind: as when a blind man asks his staff, so he says the Israelites asked counsel of their wood and staff. Some think that superstitions then practiced are here pointed out. The augurs we know used a staff; and it is probable that diviners in the East employed also a staff, or some such thing, in performing their incantations. 16 Others explain these words allegorically, as though wood was false religion, and staff the ungodly prophets. But I am inclined to hold to simplicity. It then seems to me more probable, that the Israelites, as I have already stated, are here condemned for consulting wood or dead idols, instead of the only true God; and that it was the same thing as if a blind man was to ask counsel of his staff, though the staff be without any reason or sense. A staff is indeed useful, but for a different purpose. And thus the Prophet not only contemptuously, but also ironically, exposes to scorn the folly of those who consult their gods of wood and stone; for to do so will no more avail them than if one had a staff for his counselor.
He then subjoins, for the spirit of fornication has deceived them Here again the Prophet aggravates their guilt, inasmuch as no common blame was to be ascribed to the Israelites; for they were, he says, wholly given to fornication The spirit, then, of fornication deceived them: it was the same as if one inflamed with lust ran headlong into evil; as we see to be the case with brutal men when carried away by a blind and shameful passion; for then every distinction between right and wrong disappears from their eyes — no choice is made, no shame is felt. As then such heat of lust is wont sometimes to seize men, that they distinguish nothing, so the Prophet says with the view of shaming the people the more, that they were like those given to fornication, who no longer exercise any judgment, who are restrained by no shame. The spirit, then, of fornication has deceived them: but as this similitude often meets us, I shall not dwell upon it.
They have played the wanton, he says, that they may not obey the Lord. He does not say simply, ‘from their God,’ but ‘from under’
Calvin: Hos 4:13 - -- The Prophet shows here more clearly what was the fornication for which he had before condemned the people, — that they worshipped God under trees a...
The Prophet shows here more clearly what was the fornication for which he had before condemned the people, — that they worshipped God under trees and on high places. This then is explanatory, for the Prophet defines what he before understood by the word, fornication; and this explanation was especially useful, nay, necessary. For men, we know, will not easily give way, particularly when they can adduce some color for their sins, as is the case with the superstitious: when the Lord condemns their perverted and vicious modes of worship, they instantly cry out, and boldly contend and say, “What! is this to be counted fornication, when we worship God?” For whatever they do from inconsiderate zeal is, they think, free from every blame. So the Papists of this day fix it as a matter beyond dispute that all their modes of worship are approved by God: for though nothing is grounded on his word, yet good intention (as they say) is to them more than a sufficient excuse. Hence they dare proudly to clamour against God, whenever he condemns their corruptions and abuses. Such presumption has doubtless prevailed from the beginning.
The Prophet, therefore, deemed it needful openly and distinctly to show to the Israelites, that though they thought themselves to be worshipping God with pious zeal and good intention, they were yet committing fornication. “It is fornication,” he says, “when ye sacrifice under trees.” “What! has it not ever been a commendable service to offer sacrifices and to burn incense to God?” Such being the design of the Israelites, what was the reason that God was so angry with them? We may suppose them to have fallen into a mistake; yet why did not God bear with this foolish intention, when it was covered, as it has been stated, with honest and specious zeal? But God here sharply reproves the Israelites, however much they pretended a great zeal, and however much they covered their superstitions with the false title of God’s worship: “It is nothing else,” he says, “but fornication.”
On tops of mountains, he says, they sacrifice, and on hills they burn incense, under the oak and the poplar and the teil-tree, etc. It seemed apparently a laudable thing in the Israelites to build altars in many places; for frequent attendance at the temples might have stirred them up the more in God’s worship. Such is the plea of the Papists for filling their temples with pictures; they say, “We are everywhere reminded of God wherever we turn our eyes; and this is very profitable.” So also it might have seemed to the Israelites a pious work, to set up God’s worship on hills and on tops of mountains and under every tall tree. But God repudiated the whole; he would not be in this manner worshipped: nay, we see that he was grievously displeased. He says, that the faith pledged to him was thus violated; he says, that the people basely committed fornication. Though the Prophet’s doctrine is at this day by no means plausible in the world, so that hardly one in ten embraces it; we shall yet contend in vain with the Spirit of God: nothing then is better than to hear our judge; and he pronounces all fictitious modes of worship, however much adorned by a specious guise, to be adulteries and whoredoms.
And we hence learn that good intention, with which the Papists so much please themselves, is the mother of all wantonness and of all filthiness. How so? Because it is a high offense against heaven to depart from the word of the Lord: for God had commanded sacrifices and incense to be nowhere offered to him but at Jerusalem. The Israelites transgressed this command. But obedience to God, as it is said in 1Sa 15:0, 17 is of more value with him than all sacrifices.
The Prophet also distinctly excludes a device in which the ungodly and hypocrites take great delight: good, he says, was its shade; that is, they pleased themselves with such devices. So Paul says that there is a show of wisdom in the inventions and ordinances of men, (Col 2:23.) Hence, when men undertake voluntary acts of worship, — which the Greeks call
He afterwards adds, Therefore your daughters shall play the wanton, and your daughters-in-law shall become adulteresses: I will not visit your daughters and daughters-in-law Some explain this passage as though the Prophet said, “While the parents were absent, their daughters and daughters-in-law played the wanton.” The case is the same at this day; for there is no greater liberty in licentiousness than what prevails during vowed pilgrimages: for when any one wishes to indulge freely in wantonness, she makes a vow to undertake a pilgrimage: an adulterer is ready at hand who offers himself a companion. And again, when the husband is so foolish as to run here and there, he at the same time gives to his wife the opportunity of being licentious. And we know further, that when many women meet at unusual hours in churches, and have their private masses, there are there hidden corners, where they perpetrate all kinds of licentiousness. We know, indeed, that this is very common. But the Prophet’s meaning is another: for God here denounces the punishment of which Paul speaks in the Romans 18 when he says, ‘As men have transferred the glory of God to dead things, so God also gave them up to a reprobate mind,’ that they might discern nothing, and abandon themselves to every thing shameful, and even prostitute their own bodies.
Let us then know, that when just and due honor is not rendered to God, this vengeance deservedly follows, that men become covered with infamy. Why so? Because nothing is more equitable than that God should vindicate his own glory, when men corrupt and adulterate it: for why should then any honor remain to them? And why, on the contrary, should not God sink them at once in some extreme baseness? Let us then know, that this is a just punishment, when adulteries prevail, and when vagrant lusts promiscuously follow.
Defender: Hos 4:6 - -- When people lack the knowledge of God, it is because they have rejected the knowledge already received, which could have led them to God. "Unto you th...
When people lack the knowledge of God, it is because they have rejected the knowledge already received, which could have led them to God. "Unto you that hear shall more be given" (Mar 4:24)."
Defender: Hos 4:9 - -- One of the great tragedies in the long war against God has been the defection of so many religious leaders from the true Word of God, leading their pe...
One of the great tragedies in the long war against God has been the defection of so many religious leaders from the true Word of God, leading their people into compromise and apostasy. This, sadly, is as true in modern Christendom as in ancient Israel."
Defender: Hos 4:12 - -- The stocks were idols made of wood (compare Jer 2:27). The "staff" may be a divining rod, such as many have used since ancient times to "witch" for wa...
The stocks were idols made of wood (compare Jer 2:27). The "staff" may be a divining rod, such as many have used since ancient times to "witch" for water or metals in the earth. Perhaps more likely, it is synonymous with "stock.""
TSK: Hos 4:1 - -- Cir, am 3224, bc 780
Hear : 1Ki 22:19; Isa 1:10, Isa 28:14, Isa 34:1, Isa 66:5; Jer 2:4, Jer 7:2, Jer 9:20, Jer 19:3, Jer 34:4; Amo 7:16; Rev 2:11, Re...
Cir, am 3224, bc 780
Hear : 1Ki 22:19; Isa 1:10, Isa 28:14, Isa 34:1, Isa 66:5; Jer 2:4, Jer 7:2, Jer 9:20, Jer 19:3, Jer 34:4; Amo 7:16; Rev 2:11, Rev 2:29
for : Hos 12:2; Isa 1:18, Isa 3:13, Isa 3:14, Isa 5:3, Isa 34:8; Jer 25:31; Mic 6:2
no truth : Isa 59:13-15; Jer 6:13, Jer 7:3-6; Mic 7:2-5
nor knowledge : Jer 4:22, Jer 4:28, Jer 5:4; Joh 8:55; Rom 1:28; 1Co 15:34
TSK: Hos 4:2 - -- swearing : Isa 24:5, Isa 48:1, Isa 59:2-8, Isa 59:12-15; Jer 5:1, Jer 5:2, Jer 5:7-9, Jer 5:26, Jer 5:27, Jer 6:7, Jer 7:6-10; Jer 9:2-8, Jer 23:10-14...
swearing : Isa 24:5, Isa 48:1, Isa 59:2-8, Isa 59:12-15; Jer 5:1, Jer 5:2, Jer 5:7-9, Jer 5:26, Jer 5:27, Jer 6:7, Jer 7:6-10; Jer 9:2-8, Jer 23:10-14; Eze 22:2-13, Eze 22:25-30; Mic 2:1-3, Mic 3:2, Mic 3:9, Mic 6:10, Mic 7:2; Zep 3:1; Zec 5:3, Zec 7:9
blood : Heb. bloods
toucheth : Hos 5:2, Hos 6:9; Lam 4:13; Mat 23:35; Act 7:52; 1Th 2:15; Rev 17:6
TSK: Hos 4:3 - -- the land : Isa 24:4-12; Jer 4:27; Joe 1:10-13; Amo 1:2, Amo 5:16, Amo 8:8; Nah 1:4
with the beasts : Jer 4:25, Jer 12:4; Eze 38:20; Zep 1:3
TSK: Hos 4:5 - -- and the prophet : Hos 9:7, Hos 9:8; Isa 9:13-17; Jer 6:4, Jer 6:5, Jer 6:12-15, Jer 8:10-12, Jer 14:15, Jer 14:16; Jer 15:8, Jer 23:9; Eze 13:9-16, Ez...
and the prophet : Hos 9:7, Hos 9:8; Isa 9:13-17; Jer 6:4, Jer 6:5, Jer 6:12-15, Jer 8:10-12, Jer 14:15, Jer 14:16; Jer 15:8, Jer 23:9; Eze 13:9-16, Eze 14:8-10; Mic 3:5-7; Zec 11:8, Zec 13:2
destroy : Heb. cut off
thy : Hos 2:2; Isa 50:1; Jer 15:8, Jer 50:12; Eze 16:44, Eze 16:45; Gal 4:26
TSK: Hos 4:6 - -- My people : Hos 4:12; Isa 1:3, Isa 3:12, Isa 5:13; Jer 4:22, Jer 8:7
destroyed : Heb. cut off
for : Hos 4:1, Hos 6:6; 2Ch 15:3; Job 36:12; Pro 19:2; I...
My people : Hos 4:12; Isa 1:3, Isa 3:12, Isa 5:13; Jer 4:22, Jer 8:7
destroyed : Heb. cut off
for : Hos 4:1, Hos 6:6; 2Ch 15:3; Job 36:12; Pro 19:2; Isa 27:11, Isa 45:20; Jer 5:3, Jer 5:4, Jer 5:21; Mat 15:14; 2Co 4:3-6
because : 1Sa 2:12; Pro 1:30-32; Isa 28:7, Isa 56:10-12; Jer 2:8, Jer 8:8, Jer 8:9; Mal 2:7, Mal 2:8; Mat 23:16-26
I will also reject : Zec 11:8, Zec 11:9, Zec 11:15-17; Mal 2:1-3, Mal 2:9; Mat 21:41-45; Mar 12:8, Mar 12:9; Luk 20:16-18
seeing : Hos 8:14, Hos 13:6; 2Ki 17:16-20; Psa 119:61, Psa 119:139; Isa 17:10; Mat 15:3-6
I will also : Hos 1:6; 1Sa 2:28-36, 1Sa 3:12-15
TSK: Hos 4:7 - -- they were : Hos 4:10, Hos 5:1, Hos 6:9, Hos 13:6, Hos 13:14; Ezr 9:7
therefore : 1Sa 2:30; Jer 2:26, Jer 2:27; Mal 2:9; Phi 3:19
TSK: Hos 4:8 - -- eat : Lev 6:26, Lev 7:6, Lev 7:7
set their heart on their iniquity : Heb. lift up their soul to their iniquity, 1Sa 2:29; Psa 24:4, Psa 25:1; Isa 56:1...
TSK: Hos 4:9 - -- like people : Isa 9:14-16, Isa 24:2; Jer 5:31, Jer 8:10-12, Jer 23:11, Jer 23:12; Eze 22:26-31; Mat 15:14
punish : Heb. visit upon, Hos 1:4 *marg.
rew...
like people : Isa 9:14-16, Isa 24:2; Jer 5:31, Jer 8:10-12, Jer 23:11, Jer 23:12; Eze 22:26-31; Mat 15:14
punish : Heb. visit upon, Hos 1:4 *marg.
reward them : Heb. cause to return, Psa 109:17, Psa 109:18; Pro 5:22; Isa 3:10; Zec 1:6
TSK: Hos 4:10 - -- they shall eat : Lev 26:26; Pro 13:25; Isa 65:13-16; Mic 6:14; Hag 1:6; Mal 2:1-3
they shall commit : Hos 4:14, Hos 9:11-17
left : 2Ch 24:17; Psa 36:3...
they shall eat : Lev 26:26; Pro 13:25; Isa 65:13-16; Mic 6:14; Hag 1:6; Mal 2:1-3
they shall commit : Hos 4:14, Hos 9:11-17
left : 2Ch 24:17; Psa 36:3, Psa 125:5; Jer 34:15; Eze 18:24; Zep 1:6; 2Pe 2:20-22
TSK: Hos 4:11 - -- take : Hos 4:12; Pro 6:32, Pro 20:1, Pro 23:27-35; Ecc 7:7; Isa 5:12, Isa 28:7; Luk 21:34; Rom 13:11-14
take : Hos 4:12; Pro 6:32, Pro 20:1, Pro 23:27-35; Ecc 7:7; Isa 5:12, Isa 28:7; Luk 21:34; Rom 13:11-14
TSK: Hos 4:12 - -- ask : Jer 2:27, Jer 10:8; Eze 21:21; Hab 2:19
for : Hos 5:4; Isa 44:18-20; Mic 2:11; 2Th 2:9-11
gone : Hos 9:1; Lev 17:7, Lev 20:5; Num 15:39; Deu 31:...
TSK: Hos 4:13 - -- sacrifice : Isa 1:29, Isa 57:5, Isa 57:7; Jer 3:6, Jer 3:13; Eze 6:13, Eze 16:16, Eze 16:25, Eze 20:28, Eze 20:29
therefore : 2Sa 12:10-12; Job 31:9, ...
collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes: Hos 4:1 - -- Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel - The prophet begins here, in a series of pictures as it were, to exhibit the people of Israel...
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel - The prophet begins here, in a series of pictures as it were, to exhibit the people of Israel to themselves, that they might know that God did not do without cause all this which He denounced against them. Here, at the outset, He summons, the whole people, their prophets and priests, before the judgment seat of God, where God would condescend, Himself to implead them, and hear, if they had ought in their defense. The title "children of Israel"is, in itself, an appeal to their gratitude and their conscience, as the title "Christian"among us is an appeal to us, by Him whose name we bear. Our Lord says, "If ye were Abraham’ s children, ye would do the work’ s of Abraham"Joh 8:39; and Paul, "let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity"2Ti 2:19.
For the Lord hath a controversy - God wills, in all His dealings with us His creatures, to prove even to our own consciences, the righteousness of His judgments, so as to leave us without excuse. Now, through His servants, He shows people their unrighteousness and His justice; hereafter our Lord, the righteous Judge, will show it through the book of people’ s own consciences.
With the inhabitants of the land - God had given the land to the children of Israel, on account of the wickedness of these whom He drave out before them. He gave it to them "that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws"(Ps. 105 ult.). He had promised that His "Eyes should always be upon it from the beginning of the year unto the end of the year"Deu 11:12. This land, the scene of those former judgments, given to them on those conditions (see Deu 4:1, Deu 4:40; Deu 6:21-25, etc.), the land which God had given to them as their God, they had filled with iniquity.
Because there is no truth, nor mercy - " Truth and mercy"are often spoken of, as to Almighty God. Truth takes in all which is right, and to which God has bound Himself; mercy, all beyond, which God does out of His boundless love. When God says of Israel, "there is no truth nor mercy,"He says that there is absolutely none of those two great qualities, under which He comprises all His own Goodness. "There is no truth,"none whatever, "no regard for known truth; no conscience, no sincerity, no uprightness; no truth of words; no truth of promises; no truth in witnessing; no making good in deeds what they said in words."
Nor mercy - The word has a wide meaning; it includes all love of one to another, a love issuing in acts. It includes loving-kindness, piety to parents, natural affection, forgiveness, tenderness, beneficence, mercy, goodness. The prophet, in declaring the absence of this grace, declares the absence of all included under it. Whatever could be comprised under love, whatever feelings are influenced by love, of that there was nothing.
Nor knowledge of God - The union of right knowledge and wrong practice is hideous in itself; and it must be especially offensive to Almighty God, that His creatures should know whom they offend, how they offend Him, and yet, amid and against their knowledge, choose that which displeases Him. And, on that ground, perhaps, He has so created us, that when our acts are wrong, our knowledge becomes darkened Rom 1:21. The "knowledge of God"is not merely to know some things of God, as that He is the Creator and Preserver of the world and of ourselves. To know things of God is not to know God Himself. We cannot know God in any respect, unless we are so far made like unto Him. "Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. Every one that loveth is born of’ God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love"1Jo 2:3-4; 1Jo 4:7-8.
Knowledge of God being the gift of the Holy Spirit, he who hath not grace, cannot have that knowledge. A certain degree of speculative knowledge of God, a bad man may have, as Balaam had by inspiration, and the Pagan who, "when they knew God, glorified Him not as God."But even this knowledge is not retained without love. Those who "held the truth in unrighteousness"ended (Paul says Rom 1:21, Rom 1:18, Rom 1:28) by corrupting it. "They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and so God gave them over to a reprobate,"or undistinguishing mind, that they could not. Certainly, the speculative and practical knowledge are bound up together, through the oneness of the relation of the soul to God, whether in its thoughts of Him, or its acts toward Him. Wrong practice corrupts belief, as misbelief corrupts practice. The prophet then probably denies that there was any true knowledge of God, of any sort, whether of life or faith or understanding or love. Ignorance of God, then, is a great evil, a source of all other evils.
Barnes: Hos 4:2 - -- By swearing, and lying ... - Literally, "swearing or cursing", "and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery!"The words in Heb...
By swearing, and lying ... - Literally, "swearing or cursing", "and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery!"The words in Hebrew are nouns of action. The Hebrew form is very vivid and solemn. It is far more forcible than if he had said, "They swear, lie, kill, and steal."It expresses that these sins were continual, that nothing else (so to speak) was going on; that it was all one scene of such sins, one course of them, and of nothing besides; as we say more familiarly, "It was all, swearing, lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery."It is as if the prophet, seeing with a sight above nature, a vision from God, saw, as in a picture, what was going on, all around, within and without, and summed up in this brief picture, all which he saw. This it was and nothing but this, which met his eyes, wherever he looked, whatever he heard, "swearing, lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery."The prophet had before said, that the ten tribes were utterly lacking in all truth, all love, all knowledge of God. But where there are none of these, "there,"in all activity, will be the contrary vices. When the land or the soul is empty of the good, it will be full of the evil. "They break out,"i. e., burst through all bounds, set to restrain them, as a river bursts its banks and overspreads all things or sweeps all before it. "And blood toucheth blood,"literally, "bloods touch bloods". The blood was poured so continuously and in such torrents, that it flowed on, until stream met stream and formed one wide inundation of blood.
Barnes: Hos 4:3 - -- Therefore shall the land mourn - Dumb inanimate nature seems to rejoice and to be in unison with our sense of joy, when bedewed and fresh throu...
Therefore shall the land mourn - Dumb inanimate nature seems to rejoice and to be in unison with our sense of joy, when bedewed and fresh through rain and radiant with light; and, again, to mourn, when smitten with drought or blight or disease, or devoured by the creatures which God employs to lay it waste for man’ s sins. Dumb nature is, as it were, in sympathy with man, cursed in Adam, smitten amid man’ s offences, its outward show responding to man’ s inward heart, wasted, parched, desolate, when man himself was marred and wasted by his sins.
With the beasts of the field - Literally, "in the beasts,"etc. God included "the fowl and the cattle and every beast of the field"in His covenant with man. So here, in this sentence of woe, He includes them in the inhabitants of the land, and orders that, since man would not serve God, the creatures made to serve him, should be withdrawn from him. "General iniquity is punished by general desolation."
Yea, the fishes of the sea also - Inland seas or lakes are called by this same name, as the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. Yet here the prophet probably alludes to the history of man’ s creation, when God gave him dominion "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over every living thing (chaiah)"Gen 1:28, in just the inverse order, in which he here declares that they shall be taken away. There God gives dominion over all, from lowest to highest; here God denounces that He will take away all, down to those which are least affected by any changes. Yet from time to time God has, in chastisement, directed that the shoals of fishes should not come to their usual haunts. This is well known in the history of seacoasts; and conscience has acknowledged the hand of God and seen the ground of His visitation. Of the fulfillment Jerome writes: "Whose believeth not that this befell the people of Israel, let him survey Illyricum, let him survey the Thraces, Macedonia, the Pannonias, and the whole land which stretches from the Propontis and Bosphorus to the Julian Alps, and he will experience that, together with man, all the creatures also fail, which afore were nourished by the Creator for the service of man."
Barnes: Hos 4:4 - -- Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another - Literally, "Only man let him, not strive, and let not man reprove."God had taken the controversy w...
Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another - Literally, "Only man let him, not strive, and let not man reprove."God had taken the controversy with His people into His own hands; the Lord, He said , "hath a controversy (rib) with the inhabitants of the land"Hos 4:1. Here He forbids man to intermeddle; man let him not strive. He again uses the same word . The people were obstinate and would not hear; warning and reproof, being neglected, only aggravated their guilt: so God bids man to cease to speak in His Name. He Himself alone will implead them, whose pleading none could evade or contradict. Subordinately, God, teaches us, amid His judgments, not to strive or throw the blame on each other, but each to look to his own sins, not to the sins of others.
For thy people are as they that strive with the priest - God had made it a part of the office of the priest, to "keep knowledge"Mal 2:7. He had bidden, that all hard causes should be taken "to Deu 17:8-12 the priest who stood to minister there before the Lord their God;"and whose refused the priest’ s sentence was to be put to death. The priest was then to judge in God’ s Name. As speaking in His Name, in His stead, with His authority, taught by Himself, they were called by that Name, in Which they spoke,
Barnes: Hos 4:5 - -- Therefore shalt thou fall - The two parts of the verse fill up each other. "By day and by night shall they fall, people and prophets together."...
Therefore shalt thou fall - The two parts of the verse fill up each other. "By day and by night shall they fall, people and prophets together."Their calamities should come upon them successively, day and night. They should stumble by day, when there is least fear of stumbling Joh 11:9-10; and night should not by its darkness protect them. Evil should come "at noon-day"Jer 15:8 upon them, seeing it, but unable to repel it; as Isaiah speaks of it as an aggravation of trouble, "thy land strangers devour it in thy presence"Isa 1:7; and the false prophets, who saw their visions in the night, should themselves be overwhelmed in the darkness, blinded by moral, perishing in actual, darkness.
And I will destroy thy mother - Individuals are spoken of as the children; the whole nation, as the mother. He denounces then the destruction of all, collectively and individually. They were to be cut off, root and branch. They were to lose their collective existence as a nation; and, lest private persons should flatter themselves with hope of escape, it is said to them, as if one by one, "thou shalt fall."
Barnes: Hos 4:6 - -- My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - " My people are,"not, "is."This accurately represents the Hebrew . The word "people"speaks of th...
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - " My people are,"not, "is."This accurately represents the Hebrew . The word "people"speaks of them as a whole; are, relates to the individuals of whom that whole is composed. Together, the words express the utter destruction of the whole, one and all. They are destroyed "for lack of knowledge,"literally, "of the knowledge,"i. e., the only knowledge, which in the creature is real knowledge, that knowledge, of the want of which he had before complained, the knowledge of the Creator. So Isaiah mourns in the same words , "therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge"Isa 6:13. They are destroyed for lack of it, for the true knowledge of God is the life of the soul, true life, eternal life, as our Saviour saith, "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent."The source of this lack of knowledge, so fatal to the people, was the willful rejection of that knowledge by the priest;
Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me - God marks the relation between the sin and the punishment, by retorting on them, as it were, their own acts; and that with great emphasis, "I will utterly reject thee . Those, thus addressed, must have been true priests, scattered up and down in Israel, who, in an irregular way, offered sacrifices for them, and connived at their sins. For God’ s sentence on them is, "thou shalt be no priest to me."But the priests whom Jeroboam consecrated out of other tribes than Levi, were priests not to God, but to the calves. Those then, originally true priests to God, had probably a precarious livelihood, when the true worship of God was deformed by the mixture of the calf-worship, and the people "halted between two opinions;"and so were tempted by poverty also, to withhold from the people unpalatable truth. They shared, then, in the rejection of God’ s truth which they dissembled, and made themselves partakers in its suppression. And now, they "despised, were disgusted"with the knowledge of God, as all do in fact despise and dislike it, who prefer ought besides to it. So God repaid their contempt to them, and took away the office, which, by their sinful connivances, they had hoped to retain.
Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God - This seems to have been the sin of the people. For the same persons could not, at least in the same stage of sin, despise and forget. They who despise or "reject,"must have before their mind that which they "reject."To reject is willful, conscious, deliberate sin, with a high hand; to "forget,"an act of negligence. The rejection of God’ s law was the act of the understanding and will, forgetfulness of it comes from the neglect to look into it; and this, from the distaste of the natural mind for spiritual things, from being absorbed in things of this world, from inattention to the duties prescribed by it, or shrinking from seeing "that"condemned, which is agreeable to the flesh. The priests knew God’ s law and "despised"it; the people "forgat"it. In an advanced stage of sin, however, man may come to forget what he once despised; and this is the condition of the hardened sinner.
I will also forget thy children - Literally, "I will forget thy children, I too."God would mark the more, that His act followed on their’ s; they, first; then, He saith, "I too."He would requite them, and do what it belonged not to His Goodness to do first. Parents who are careless as to themselves, as to their own lives, even as to their own shame, still long that their children should not be as themselves. God tries to touch their hearts, where they are least steeled against Him. He says not, "I will forget thee,"but I will forget those nearest thy heart, "thy children."God is said to forget, when He acts, as if His creatures were no longer in His mind, no more. the objects of His providence and love.
Barnes: Hos 4:7 - -- As they were increased, so they sinned against Me - The "increase"may be, either in actual number or in wealth, power or dignity. The text incl...
As they were increased, so they sinned against Me - The "increase"may be, either in actual number or in wealth, power or dignity. The text includes both. In both kinds of increase, the bad abuse God’ s gifts against Himself, and take occasion of them to offend Him. The more they were increased in number, the more there were to sin, the more they were who sinned. God promised to make Abraham’ s seed, "as the stars of heaven."They were to shine in the world through the light of the law, and the glory which God gave them while obeying Him. "Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee like the stars of heaven for multitude. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep His charge, and His statutes, and his judgments and His commandments alway"Deu 10:22; Deu 10:1. God multiplied them, that there might be the more to adore Him. But instead of multiplying subjects, He multiplied apostates. "As many men as Israel had, so many altars did it build to daemons, in the sacrifices to whom it sinned against Me.""The more sons God gave to Israel, the more enemies He made to Himself, for Israel brought them up in hatred to God, and in the love and worship of idols.""As too among the devout, one provokes another, by word and deed, to good works, so, in the congregation of evil doers, one incites another to sins."Again, worldlings make all God’ s gifts minister to pride, and so to all the sins, which are the daughters of pride. "Jeshurun, God says, waxed fat and kicked; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation"Deu 32:15. In this way too, the increase of wealth which God gives to those who forget Him, increases the occasions of ingratitude and sins.
I will turn their glory into shame - Such is the course of sin and chastisement. God bestows on man, gifts, which may be to him matter of praise and glory, if only ordered aright to their highest and only true end, the glory of God; man perverts them to vain-glory and thereby to sin; God turns the gifts, so abused, to shame. He not only gives them shame instead of their glory; He makes the glory itself the means and occasion of their shame. Beauty becomes the occasion of degradation; pride is proverbially near a fall; "vaulting ambition overleaps itself, and falls on th’ other side;"riches and abundance of population tempt nations to wars, which become their destruction, or they invite other and stronger nations to prey upon them. "Thou hast indeed smitten Edom,"was the message of Jehoash to Amaziah, "and thine heart hath lifted thee up; glory of this, and tarry at home, for why shouldest thou to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou and Judah with thee? But Amaziah would not hear"2Ki 14:10-11. He lost his own wealth, wasted the treasures in God’ s house; and the walls of Jerusalem were broken down.
Barnes: Hos 4:8 - -- They eat up the sin of My people - The priests made a gain of the sins of the people, lived upon them and by them, conniving at or upholding th...
They eat up the sin of My people - The priests made a gain of the sins of the people, lived upon them and by them, conniving at or upholding the idolatries of the people, partaking in their idol-sacrifices and idolatrous rites, which, as involving the desertion of God, were "the sin of the people,"and the root of all their other sins. This the priests did knowingly. True or false, apostate or irregularly appointed, they knew that there was no truth in the golden calves; but they withheld the truth, they held it down in unrighteousness, and preached Jeroboam’ s false-hood, "these be thy gods, O Israel."The reputation, station, maintenance of the false priests depended upon it. Not being of the line of Aaron, they could be no priests except to the calves, and so they upheld the sin whereby they lived, and, that they might themselves be accounted priests of God, taught them to worship the calves, as representatives of God.
The word, "sin,"may include indirectly the sin-offerings of the people, as if they loved the sin or encouraged it, in order that they might partake of the outward expiations for it.
And they set their heart on their iniquity - , as the source of temporal profit to themselves. "Benefited by the people, they reproved them not in their sinful doings, but charged themselves with their souls, saying, on us be the judgment, as those who said to Pilate, His blood be upon us."That which was, above all, "their iniquity,"the source of all the rest, was their departure from God and from His ordained worship. On this they "set their hearts;"in this they kept them secure by their lies; they feared any misgivings, which might rend the people from them, and restore them to the true worship of God. But what else is it, to extenuate or flatter sin now, to dissemble it, not to see it, not openly to denounce it, lest we lose our popularity, or alienate those who commit it? What else is it to speak smooth words to the great and wealthy, not to warn them, even in general terms, of the danger of making Mammon their god; of the peril of riches, of parade, of luxury, of immoral dressing, and, amid boundless extravagance, neglect of the poor; encouraging the rich, not only in the neglect of Lazarus, but in pampering the dogs, while they neglect him? hat is the praise of some petty dole to the poor, but connivance at the withholding from God His due in them? "We see now,"says an old writer , "how many prelates live on the oblations and revenues of the laity, and yet, whereas they are bound, by words, by prayers, by exemplary life, to turn them away from sin, and to lead them to amendment, they, in various ways, scandalize, corrupt, infect them, by ungodly conversation, flattery, connivance, cooperation, and neglect of due pastoral care. Whence Jeremiah says, "My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray."O how horrible and exceeding great will be their damnation, who shall be tormented for each of those under their care, who perish through their negligence"Jer 50:6.
Barnes: Hos 4:9 - -- And there shall be like people, like priest - Priest and people were alike in sin. Yea they are wont, if bad, to foment each other’ s sin....
And there shall be like people, like priest - Priest and people were alike in sin. Yea they are wont, if bad, to foment each other’ s sin. The bad priest copies the sins which he should reprove, and excuses himself by the frailty of our common nature. The people, acutely enough, detect the worldliness or self-indulgence of the priest, and shelter themselves under his example. Their defense stands good before people; but what before God? Alike in sin, priest and people should be alike in punishment. "Neither secular greatness should exempt the laity, nor the dignity of his order, the priest."Both shall be swept away in one common heap, in one disgrace, into one damnation. "They shall bind them in bundles to burn them."
And I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings - Literally, "I will visit upon him his ways, and his doings I will make to return to him."People and priests are spoken of as one man. None should escape. The judgment comes down "upon"them, overwhelming them. Man’ s deeds are called his "ways,"because the soul holds on the tenor of its life along them, and those ways lead him on to his last end, heaven or hell. The word rendered "doings "signifies "great doings,"when used of God; "bold doings,"on the part of man. Those bold presumptuous doings against the law and will of God, God will bring back to the sinner’ s bosom.
Barnes: Hos 4:10 - -- For they shall eat, and not have enough - This is almost a proverbial saying of Holy Scripture, and, as such, has manifold applications. In the...
For they shall eat, and not have enough - This is almost a proverbial saying of Holy Scripture, and, as such, has manifold applications. In the way of nature, it comes true in those, who, under God’ s affictive Hand in famine or siege, "eat"what they have, but have "not enough,"and perish with hunger. It comes true in those, who, through bodily disease, are not nourished by their food. Yet not less true is it of those who, through their own insatiate desires, are never satisfied, but crave the more greedily, the more they have. Their sin of covetousness becomes their torment.
They shall commit whoredom and not increase - Literally, "they have committed whoredom."The time spoken of is perhaps changed, because God would not speak of their future sin, as certain. There is naturally too a long interval between this sin and its possible fruit, which may be marked by this change of time. The sin was past, the effect was to be seen hereafter. They used all means, lawful and unlawful, to increase their offspring, but they failed, even because they used forbidden means. God’ s curse rested upon those means. Single marriage, according to God’ s law, "they twain shall be one flesh,"yields in a nation larger increase than polygamy. God turns illicit sexual intercourse to decay. His curse is upon it.
Because they have left off to take heed to the Lord - Literally, "to watch, observe, the Lord."The eye of the soul should be upon God, watching and waiting to know all indications of His will, all guidings of His Eye. So the Psalmist says, "As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hands of her mistress, even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until He have mercy upon us"Psa 123:2. The Angels of God, great and glorious as they are, "do alway behold the Face of the Father"Mat 18:10, at once filled with His love, and wrapped in contemplation, and reading therein His will, to do it. The lawless and hopeless ways of Israel sprang from their neglecting to watch and observe God. For as soon as man ceases to watch God, he falls, of himself, into sin. The eye which is not fixed on God, is soon astray amid the vanities and pomps and lusts of the world. So it follows;
Barnes: Hos 4:11 - -- Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart - (Literally, "takes away"). Wine and fleshly sin are pictured as blended in one, to deprive...
Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart - (Literally, "takes away"). Wine and fleshly sin are pictured as blended in one, to deprive man of his affections and reason and understanding, and to leave him brutish and irrational. In all the relations of life toward God and man, reason and will are guided by the affections. And so, in God’ s language, the "heart"stands for the "understanding"as well as the "affections,"because it directs the understanding, and the understanding, bereft of true affections, and under the rule of passion, becomes senseless. Besides the perversion of the understanding, each of these sins blunts and dulls the fineness of the intellect; much more, both combined. The stupid sottishness of the confirmed voluptuary is a whole, of which each act of sensual sin worked its part. The Pagan saw this clearly, although, without the grace of God, they did not act on what they saw to be true and right. This, the sottishness of Israel, destroying their understanding, was the ground of their next folly, that they ascribed to "their stock"the office of God. "Corruption of manners and superstition"(it has often been observed) "go hand in hand."
Barnes: Hos 4:12 - -- My people ask counsel at - (literally, "on") their stocks They ask habitually ; and that, in dependence "on their stocks."The word "wood"is use...
My people ask counsel at - (literally, "on") their stocks They ask habitually ; and that, in dependence "on their stocks."The word "wood"is used of the idol made of it, to bring before them the senselessness of their doings, in that they asked counsel of the senseless wood. Thus Jeremiah reproaches them for "saying to a stock, my father"Jer 2:27; and Habakkuk, "Woe unto him that saith to the wood, awake"Hab 2:19.
And their staff declareth unto them - Many sorts of this superstition existed among the Arabs and Chaldees. They were different ways of drawing lots, without any dependence upon the true God to direct it. This was a part of their senselessness, of which the prophet had just said, that their sins took away their hearts. The tenderness of the word, "My people,"aggravates both the stupidity and the ingratitude of Israel. They whom the Living God owned as His own people, they who might have asked of Him, asked of a stock or a staff.
For the spirit of whoredoms - It has been thought of old, that the evil spirits assault mankind in a sort of order and method, different spirits bending all their energies to tempt him to different sins . And this has been founded on the words of Holy Scripture, "a lying spirit,""an unclean spirit,""a spirit of jealousy,"and our Lord said of the evil spirit whom the disciples could not cast out; "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting"Mat 17:21. Hence, it has been thought that "some spirits take delight in uncleanness and defilement of sins; others urge on to blasphemies; others, to anger and fury; others take delight in gloom; others are soothed with vainglory and pride; and that each instills into man’ s heart that vice in which he takes pleasure himself; yet that all do not urge their own perversenesses at once, but in turn, as opportunity of time or place, or man’ s own susceptibility, invites them". Or the word, "spirit of whoredoms,"may mean the vehemence with which people were whirled along by their evil passions, whether by their passionate love of idolatry, or by the fleshly sin which was so often bound up with their idolatry.
They have gone a whoring from under their God - The words "from under"continue the image of the adulteress wife, by which God had pictured the faithlessness of His people. The wife was spoken of as "under her husband Num 5:19, Num 5:29; Eze 23:5, i. e., under his authority; she withdrew herself "from under"him, when she withdrew herself from his authority, and gave herself to another. So Israel, being wedded to God, estranged herself from Him, withdrew herself from His obedience, cast off all reverence to Him, and prostituted herself to her idols.
Barnes: Hos 4:13 - -- They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains - The tops of hills or mountains seemed nearer heaven, the air was purer, the place more removed ...
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains - The tops of hills or mountains seemed nearer heaven, the air was purer, the place more removed from the world. To worship the Unseen God upon them, was then the suggestion of natural feeling and of simple devotion. God Himself directed the typical sacrifice of Isaac to take place on a mountain; on that same mountain He commanded that the temple should be built; on a mountain, God gave the law; on a mountain was our Saviour transfigured; on a mountain was He crucified; from a mountain He ascended into heaven. Mountains and hills have accordingly often been chosen for Christian churches and monasteries. But the same natural feeling, misdirected, made them the places of pagan idolatry and pagan sins. The Pagan probably also chose for their star and planet-worship, mountains or large plains, as being the places from where the heavenly bodies might be seen most widely.
Being thus connected with idolatry and sin, God strictly forbade the worship on the high places, and (as is the case with so many of God’ s commandments) man practiced it as diligently as if He had commanded it. God had said, "Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations, which ye shall possess, served their gods upon the high mountains, and upon the hills and under every green tree"Deu 12:2. But "they set them up images and groves (rather images of Ashtaroth) in every high hill and under every green tree, and there they burnt incense in all the high place, as did the pagan whom the Lord carried away before them"2Ki 17:10-11. The words express, that this which God forbade they did diligently; "they sacrificed much and diligently; they burned incense much and diligently"; and that, not here and there, but generally, "on the tops of the mountains,"and, as it were, in the open face of heaven. So also Ezekiel complains, "They saw every high hill and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink-offerings"Eze 20:28.
Under oaks - (white) poplars and elms (probably the terebinth or turpentine tree) because the shadow thereof is good The darkness of the shadow suited alike the cruel and the profligate deeds which were done in honor of their false gods. In the open face of day, and in secret they carried on their sin.
Therefore their daughters shall commit whoredoms, and their spouses - (or more probably, daughters-in-law) shall commit adultery Or (in the present) commit adultery. The fathers and husbands gave themselves to the abominable rites of Baal-peor and Ashtaroth, and so the daughters and daughters-in-law followed their example. This was by the permission of God, who, since they "glorified not"God as they ought, "gave them up,"abandoned them, "to vile affections."So, through their own disgrace and bitter griefs, in the persons of those whose honor they most cherished, they should learn how ill they themselves had done, in departing from Him who is the Father and Husband of every soul. The sins of the fathers descend very often to the children, both in the way of nature, that the children inherit strong temptations to their parents’ sin, and by way of example, that they greedily imitate, often exaggerate, them. Wouldest thou not have children, which thou wouldest wish unborn, reform thyself. The saying may include too sufferings at the hands of the enemy. "What thou dost willingly, that shall your daughters and your daughters-in-law suffer against thine and their will."
Poole: Hos 4:1 - -- Hear attend, consider, and duly weigh: it is the hearing of the mind, as well as of the ear, is here required.
The word of the Lord he that speaks...
Hear attend, consider, and duly weigh: it is the hearing of the mind, as well as of the ear, is here required.
The word of the Lord he that speaks is the great God, though the messenger be a man; the message is not man’ s, but it is the word, the message of the sovereign, holy; just, and mighty Jehovah, who ever speaks most important things, things that respect our duty and safety.
Ye children of Israel you of the ten tribes, with whose ancestors my covenant was made, who received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it, you that have turned aside from your God to idols.
The Lord who knoweth your sins, who hateth, threateneth, and will judge, and punish unless you repent, it is he that speaketh, and summoneth you to plead with him.
Hath a controversy just matter of debate or arguing against you; you have wronged him, and he will right himself, yet so that he will be clear in his judgment, all shall see that the just Lord doth justly, and that this people’ s sins are the cause of all their sufferings, that God doth not delight to afflict the children of men.
With the inhabitants of the land who dwell in the cities and towns of Israel, divided from the house of David, and from the house of God; ye that dwell with idolatrous neighbours: it is not a few, but the generality of the inhabitants; it is the whole land I have an action against.
There is no truth no faithfulness, in their minds, words, or works; they cover falsehood with fair words, till they may fitly execute their designed frauds. There is neither plain-heartedness nor constancy in their purposes and words.
Nor mercy kindness or gentleness of mind; all are hardened, and restrain their bowels, which should be opened toward the indigent and necessitous. There is neither compassion nor beneficence among them, they pity not, nor relieve any.
Nor knowledge of God all generally are ignorant, know not what God hath done for them, or what God is in himself, or what candour and truth, or what tenderness and beneficence, he requires in his word; if they have a slight knowledge of those things, yet they consider them not. They have rased the knowledge of God out of their minds.
In the land: this speaks the universal ignorance, mercilessness, and unfaithfulness of that age.
Poole: Hos 4:2 - -- By swearing either falsely or profanely, or cursing and wishing evil to one; instead of truth here is perjury; instead of compassion here is execrati...
By swearing either falsely or profanely, or cursing and wishing evil to one; instead of truth here is perjury; instead of compassion here is execration and evil-speaking.
Lying of all kinds affirming of falsehoods, denying of truths, defrauding, lessening good, and representing it what it is not, greatening what is in others ill, and so flattering in some cases, and defaming in other cases, &c.
Killing: though God hath forbidden all kinds and degrees of murder, this people, through ignorance of God, do fill the land with murders, either open or secret; by cruelty withholding relief from some, by violence and falsehood cutting off others: the temper of this people was toward killing, their designs laid for it, &c.
Stealing injuring one another, either by taking away what was another’ s, or detaining what should have been his, or giving less to another than was his due: every one inclined to frauds, many addicted to secret thefts, and some openly practicing it.
Committing adultery which was a sin grown high among them, a sin directly against the truth and mercy which should have been among them. Under this, all degrees of adultery, unchaste thoughts, words, and gestures are included.
They break out as waters that swell above all banks, or as unruly beasts that break over all hedges, so you, O Israelites, have broken down the hedge of the law, which expressly forbids what you daily practise.
Blood toucheth blood slaughters are multiplied: by blood the Scripture understandeth slaughter, Gen 4:10 , &c.; Psa 58:10 . Possibly the wrong done by the adulterer was (as Ammon’ s) revenged with the slaughter of the adulterer; or possibly it may refer to murders committed in the very court of the temple; so the blood of the murdered touched the blood of sacrifices. It is too particular to refer it to the blood of Zechariah slain between the porch and the altar, and which (some say) ran down to the altar and touched the blood of the sacrifice. Or what if this should refer to what will be ere long, when Jeroboam is dead, when Zachariah is murdered by Shallum, 2Ki 15:10 ; Menahem slew Shallum, 2Ki 15:14 , and ripped up women with child in Tiphsah, 2Ki 15:16 ; when Pekah slew Pekahiah, and Hoshea slew him? These kings being thus slain, no doubt much blood was spilt; all which happened in less than forty years; for from Zechariah to Pekah’ s usurpation are but fourteen years, from Pekah’ s entrance on the throne to Hoshea’ s conspiracy are twenty years.
Poole: Hos 4:3 - -- Therefore since their sins are so many and so great, for those very sins already mentioned in the 1st and 2nd verses,
shall the land which the ten ...
Therefore since their sins are so many and so great, for those very sins already mentioned in the 1st and 2nd verses,
shall the land which the ten tribes did now inhabit, mourn: it is a metaphorical expression, for properly it cannot be spoken of the senseless and inanimate creatures; but as men and women mourn under the loss of their comforts and joys, as they neglect themselves in their habits, and go less neat, so when the sins of the people shall bring an enemy upon the land, when war shall first spoil their cities, towns, vineyards, and oliveyards, and finally shall carry the people captive, all shall run into horrid and saddest state, and into doleful plight. The same expression see in Isa 24:4 , and much like Amo 1:2 .
Every one that dwelleth therein no sort of men but had provoked God and sinned, no sort but should be punished; all that continue in the land till these threatened judgments overtake them.
Shall languish shall with grief and vexation pine away; what they see with their eye shall make their heart ache, and faint with greatest dejectedness and despair, as the word imports, Isa 16:8 Joe 1:12 .
With the beasts of the field: these are elsewhere menaced, Zep 1:2 , which see. God punisheth man in cutting off what was made for man’ s benefit and comfort; and it is probable that the tamer cattle were starved for want of grass or fodder, all being eaten up and consumed by the wasting armies.
With the fowls of heaven the tamer and innocent either killed by enemies, or, offended with stench and noxious air, die or forsake the country, or are devoured by eagles and birds of prey, which in those countries wait on armies.
Yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away whether by drying up the waters of rivers, lakes, and ponds, or by corrupting them with blood and carcasses, or by what other way we know not, he can do it, who saith he will; and we are sure it speaks the greatness of the threatened desolation.
Poole: Hos 4:4 - -- Yet though judgments great and wasting are so sure, though the approaching calamities will lay all utterly waste.
Let no man none of private capaci...
Yet though judgments great and wasting are so sure, though the approaching calamities will lay all utterly waste.
Let no man none of private capacity, no priest or prophet, any more open their mouths to reason and debate with this people; let all know they are so obstinate and hardened it is to no purpose to warn any more.
Strive contend, as in causes pleaded before a judge; lay not the law before them, who have so often refused to hear it.
Nor reprove no more chide, or sharply inveigh against their sins and ways. Or this whole passage may be thus read,
Yet certainly there is none that may or can strive & c. All are so corrupted, that there is none free who may with confidence argue against others. But our version is better of the two.
Thy people thy countrymen, Hosea, if the former words be the words of God to the prophet. Or else, if they be the words of the prophet to the people, then he speaks to them of the temper of their neighbours and people with whom they dwelt. It is much one which we take, for Hosea was now among them; and whether his people or no, they are still the same persons spoken of.
Are as they that strive with the priest there is no ingenuity, modesty, or fear of God or man left among them, they will contend with their teachers, reprovers, and counsellors; they will justify themselves, and contemn all reproof; they will adhere to sin, and reject all better advice, just as they Mal 1:2,7 2:14 . This doth not suppose, much less assert, the priests of Baal and the calves to be true priests; but were they as true as they are false, yet such is the temper of the people, they would not hear, consider, and amend, whoever contested with them. Let them alone therefore to perish with obstinate sinners.
Poole: Hos 4:5 - -- Therefore because thy sins are so many and so great, and thou art incorrigible in them,
shalt thou fall the prophet turns his speech to the people,...
Therefore because thy sins are so many and so great, and thou art incorrigible in them,
shalt thou fall the prophet turns his speech to the people, thou, O Israel; he speaks to them as to one person, they were all of one piece in sin, and should be so one in punishment. Fall; stumble, and fall, and be broken.
In the day or this day, i.e. very suddenly, your fall shall be presently effected by your enemies’ power, vigilance, and successes; it shall be no longer delayed.
The prophet who spake smooth things, who prophesied lies; the false prophets of Baal and the groves, Jer 14:13-16 23:15 .
Shall fall be in as sad calamitous condition as any.
With thee either the prophet that is with thee, that lived with and prophesied to this people; or, as we read it, when the people are ruined and captivated, with them the false prophet shall be likewise ruined and captivated.
In the night either proverbially taken, people and prophet shall continually fall; or allusively, both shall fall as a man that falls in the night. Or else, the prophet shall fall in the darkest calamities, he shall be covered with thickest clouds, who falsely foretold and promised light unto such people.
And I the Lord, against whom thou hast sinned, will destroy, cut off, or make to cease or be silent for ever: see Hos 1:4 .
Thy mother both the state, or kingdom, and the synagogues, or mock churches: the public is as a mother to private persons: so all shall be destroyed; which also came to pass before the prophet Hosea died, he lived to see his threats fulfilled.
Poole: Hos 4:6 - -- My people: the divorce was not yet issued out, the ten tribes yet were in some sense Ammi. Are destroyed ; not only in the prophetic style, are, bec...
My people: the divorce was not yet issued out, the ten tribes yet were in some sense Ammi. Are destroyed ; not only in the prophetic style, are, because ere long they shall most certainly be destroyed, but in the course of the history it is plain in matter of fact; many of them were cut off by Pul king of Assyria, 2Ki 15 , and many were destroyed by the bloody and cruel tyranny of Menahem, and more were ruined in their estates by exactions and impositions. The civil wars, the seditions, the usurpations of some and the deposing of others, were things the prophet Hosea lived to see, and I believe speaks of here as things that had already destroyed many.
For lack of knowledge of God, his law, his menaces, his providences, and government of the world. Had they known his holy nature, his jealousy for his own glory, his hatred of sin and his power to punish it, had they known their God, they would either have forborne to sin, or repented of what sins they had committed, and so prevented his wrath. Because thou : the prophet now turns his words from the people to the priests among them. The people’ s ignorance was much from the ignorance and profane humour of their priests, and this the prophet doth tacitly charge on the priests, to whom he speaks as to one particular person:
Thou who callest thyself, art accounted by the people, and goest under the name of a priest.
Hast rejected knowledge: strange perverseness! they who should direct others, who should be teachers, are and will be ignorant, will not know, reject knowledge; detestest to know, as the Chaldee paraphrase.
I will also reject thee with equal dislike I will reject time, I will destroy your church constitution, and with that I will destroy your priesthood; and I will do this with detestation and abhorrence too.
Thou hast forgotten the law of thy God: O Israel, and you, O priests, you have all sinned together, slighted and disrespected the law, broken all the precepts of it, set up other gods, other worship, other priests than the law directs.
I will also forget I will pay thee in thy own coin, I will forget, i. e. slight and disregard.
Thy children the people of Israel, the whole kingdom of the ten tribes; both those pretended priests and their ghostly children with them.
Poole: Hos 4:7 - -- As they kings, priests, and people of that age, that is, Jeroboam the Second, great-grandson of Jehu, who raised the kingdom to its highest pitch and...
As they kings, priests, and people of that age, that is, Jeroboam the Second, great-grandson of Jehu, who raised the kingdom to its highest pitch and glory.
Were increased both multiplied for number, and grew great in riches, power, and honour. Such temper were they of, Isa 1:2 .
So they sinned against me: sin grew with their wealth and honour; God who raised them was by them provoked the more, they turned his bounty into sin: too usual a return from sinners to God.
I will change turn by a just retaliation,
their glory into shame: they turned their glory, all that in which they might glory above others, into sin; I will turn it into shame; that shall be their dishonour which, had it been well used, might have been their honour. I will degrade their priests, impoverish the people, captivate both.
Poole: Hos 4:8 - -- They the priests who minister to the idols,
eat up the sin of my people live upon with delight, maintain themselves and theirs; either by conniving...
They the priests who minister to the idols,
eat up the sin of my people live upon with delight, maintain themselves and theirs; either by conniving at their sins, not reproving as they deserve, lest thereby they should disoblige persons, and lessen their bounty to them; or leave them to sin first, and next look for sacrifices for those sins, like some that make gain by the sins of people with whom they dispense. Or more plainly, by
sin is meant sin-offering, in which the priest had his share.
My people: see Hos 4:6 .
And they covetous, luxurious, idolatrous priests, the priests of Baal and the calves,
set their heart on their iniquity watch to, and earnestly desire, hope, and expect the people will sin, and bring offerings for sin, which is the iniquity as well as gain of these priests.
Poole: Hos 4:9 - -- The sum of these words is this, that God will certainly punish; for the sins both of priests and people are such that God will no further forbear ei...
The sum of these words is this, that God will certainly punish; for the sins both of priests and people are such that God will no further forbear either; and when he comes to punish, he will do it according to the ways and doings of both; where sins have been equal, punishment shall be equal too, both priest and people shall be led into captivity, and there used without any differencing respect of one or other.
Poole: Hos 4:10 - -- For or And , Heb. This is another part of their punishment, and it is better rendered as a particular part of their curse, than as a cause of that w...
For or And , Heb. This is another part of their punishment, and it is better rendered as a particular part of their curse, than as a cause of that which was spoken in the former verse.
They shall eat, and not have enough: in Hos 4:8 they are said to eat up the sin of that people, i.e. by sinful courses they project for their livelihood; now comes the curse God will punish this sin with. He will withhold his blessing, they shall not be nourished, not satisfied, with what they eat. See Hag 1:6 .
They shall commit whoredom and shall not increase; though they multiply wives to relieve them under the curse of barrenness and want of children, or by fornication seek to multiply their offspring, though they do this which they ought not to do, they shall not hereby increase the number of their children; either the women shall not bear, or the children not live.
Because they have left off to take heed to the Lord they have apostatized and turned from the true God, from his worship and law.
Poole: Hos 4:11 - -- Whoredom unlawful converse with wanton women, the forbidden pleasures of an adulterous bed.
And wine and new wine excess of drinking, and indeed al...
Whoredom unlawful converse with wanton women, the forbidden pleasures of an adulterous bed.
And wine and new wine excess of drinking, and indeed all immoderate pleasures; one kind being put for all.
Take away the heart besot men, and deprive them of the right use of their Understanding and judgment. By these courses both priests and people here have disabled themselves to discern aright between good and bad, between safe and dangerous.
Poole: Hos 4:12 - -- My people whom I chose, brought out of Egypt, and settled in this land, wire are not yet cast off, though they deserve it, who call themselves my peo...
My people whom I chose, brought out of Egypt, and settled in this land, wire are not yet cast off, though they deserve it, who call themselves my people.
Ask counsel inquire about future things, and what shall befall them. I threaten from heaven, they believe not me, but flatter themselves it will be better than my prophets say it will, and they inquire of their idolatrous priests concerning their fate.
At their stocks wooden statues or idols with which their priests consult, and make them give answer suiting to the hope of these people.
Their staff declareth unto them: this was another kind of forbidden consulting with the devil; an art much in use in those times and places. You read of this Eze 21:2 . These were parts of their sottish idolatry. So they thought, they believed what their false prophets reported from the staff or stock. Unparalleled folly! not to believe God speaking from heaven, but at the same time believe a stock or staff, that knows not in whose hand it is, or what use it is put to.
The spirit of whoredoms a heart addicted to and insnared with whoredoms, spiritual and corporal.
Hath caused them to err hath blinded, misled, and deceived them. So Isa 40:20 44:14,18 .
And they have gone a whoring from under their God so they have left their God, refusing to be under his guidance, endeavouring to evade his corrections, and to fortify themselves, rebel-like, against his armies raised to chastise them, trusting herein to idols.
Poole: Hos 4:13 - -- They both priests and people,
sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains where their altars were sometimes to God, sometimes to idols: these were the...
They both priests and people,
sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains where their altars were sometimes to God, sometimes to idols: these were the high places, chosen out by themselves, and where their sacrifices offered to God were esteemed little else than idolatry, Isa 57:7 .
Burn incense upon the hills another piece of idolatry they practised, which as it usually was joined to their sacrifices, so is it here added by the prophet. This idolatry abounded in Israel, where without control it had been in use ever since their revolt, if not before: a wood so deep-rooted, that the best kings of Judah could not quite extirpate it.
Under oaks some say pines, or the alder.
Poplars the white poplar.
Elms or lime-tree, or the tree whose boughs stretched out together cast a pleasant shadow. Under all these it is certain the ancient heathen did perform their idolatrous services; so did this people choose all these great trees which, having many and great boughs, do afford the darkest and coolest recesses, Eze 20:28 .
Because the shadow thereof is good convenient for the sacrificers, while the smoke and smell of the sacrifice went up through the boughs, and the coolness of the shady place kept their persons from sultry heat; it may be they thought (as the heathen did) that the numen , deity, delighted to dwell or be often in such places.
Therefore for these sins of yours, though you account them no sins, for your harmonizing with heathenish superstitions; for your leaving my temple, and, against my commands, sacrificing where best liketh you.
Your daughters shall commit whoredom shall dishonour themselves and their families by their lewdness and unlawful converse with fornicators. The sin of the fathers is thus punished, that they might see God’ s just hand punishing, and the sin punished. Here is spiritual whoredom punished with giving up daughters to their wandering lusts.
Your spouses shall commit adultery or, spouses of your sons , as the French version; a great unhappiness to any family, to be disparaged and wronged by adulteresses, and a grievous punishment, where or whensoever executed; and this is here foretold it will be so, not countenanced.
Haydock: Hos 4:1 - -- Prophet, both true and false. ---
Night of tribulation. Hebrew and Septuagint, "I have compared thy mother to the night."
Prophet, both true and false. ---
Night of tribulation. Hebrew and Septuagint, "I have compared thy mother to the night."
Haydock: Hos 4:1 - -- Israel. They are chiefly addressed, (Chaldean; St. Jerome; Calmet) or what follows to ver. 15, regards all. (Worthington) ---
Judgment. Hebrew, ...
Israel. They are chiefly addressed, (Chaldean; St. Jerome; Calmet) or what follows to ver. 15, regards all. (Worthington) ---
Judgment. Hebrew, "a trial." ---
Mercy. The want of humanity and of practical knowledge is urged. (Calmet) ---
The knowledge of God includes the observance of the commandments, 1 John ii. 4. (Worthington) ---
This science alone is requisite, Jeremias ix. 3., and Isaias v. 13. Blind leaders prove their own and other's ruin.
Haydock: Hos 4:2 - -- Blood. The successors of Jeroboam II were mostly murdered. (Calmet) ---
Incestuous marriages take place. (Haydock)
Blood. The successors of Jeroboam II were mostly murdered. (Calmet) ---
Incestuous marriages take place. (Haydock)
Haydock: Hos 4:3 - -- Together. The waters shall be dried up, or infected. (Calmet) ---
When the people are taken away, beasts will not long remain, Jeremias ix. 10., a...
Together. The waters shall be dried up, or infected. (Calmet) ---
When the people are taken away, beasts will not long remain, Jeremias ix. 10., and Sophonias i. 2. (Haydock)
Haydock: Hos 4:4 - -- Judge, &c. As if he would say: It is in vain to strive with them, or reprove them, they are so obstinate in evil. (Challoner) ---
Priest. Such m...
Judge, &c. As if he would say: It is in vain to strive with them, or reprove them, they are so obstinate in evil. (Challoner) ---
Priest. Such must be slain, Deuteronomy xvii. 12. (Calmet) ---
Septuagint, "my people are like a priest contradicted," (Haydock) or degraded. (Theodoret)
Haydock: Hos 4:6 - -- Silent. Septuagint, "like those who had," &c. ---
Knowledge. Jeroboam I had appointed unlawful priests, and some of the house of Aaron went over ...
Silent. Septuagint, "like those who had," &c. ---
Knowledge. Jeroboam I had appointed unlawful priests, and some of the house of Aaron went over to him, and were excluded from officiating at Jerusalem, after the captivity, 1 Kings xii. 31., and Ezechiel xliv. 10. Knowledge is always expected of priests, Deuteronomy xvii. 8., and Malachias ii. 7. (Gratian. dist. 38. c. omnes. ) (Calmet) ---
When the power of sacrificing is withdrawn, all spiritual functions cease, as sacrifice belongs properly to a priest. (Worthington)
Haydock: Hos 4:7 - -- Me. A father rejoices in a numerous offspring. But my people take occasion to offend me the more they increase. (Calmet)
Me. A father rejoices in a numerous offspring. But my people take occasion to offend me the more they increase. (Calmet)
Haydock: Hos 4:8 - -- Sins: victims. (Worthington) ---
Iniquity; or "they seek for support in their propitiatory offerings," and lull the people asleep in their sins. ...
Sins: victims. (Worthington) ---
Iniquity; or "they seek for support in their propitiatory offerings," and lull the people asleep in their sins. The priests of the golden calf imitated the sacred rites of Moses. It would have been too difficult to make the people change altogether.
Haydock: Hos 4:9 - -- Priest. They are equally dissolute, and shall meet the like punishment. ---
Devices, or thoughts. (Calmet) ---
Cogitatio mali operis pænas luet...
Priest. They are equally dissolute, and shall meet the like punishment. ---
Devices, or thoughts. (Calmet) ---
Cogitatio mali operis pænas luet. (St. Jerome)
Haydock: Hos 4:10 - -- Ceased. Hebrew, "increased." They have no children living. (Calmet) ---
Septuagint, "let them not succeed."
Ceased. Hebrew, "increased." They have no children living. (Calmet) ---
Septuagint, "let them not succeed."
Haydock: Hos 4:11 - -- Understanding. Literally, "heart." (Haydock) ---
Some sins darken reason more than others; but none so much as spiritual fornication. (Worthingto...
Understanding. Literally, "heart." (Haydock) ---
Some sins darken reason more than others; but none so much as spiritual fornication. (Worthington)
Haydock: Hos 4:12 - -- Staff. It was customary to use this mode of divination, (Ezechiel xxi. 21.) and likewise incense, ver. 13. ---
Oak. These terms are variously ren...
Staff. It was customary to use this mode of divination, (Ezechiel xxi. 21.) and likewise incense, ver. 13. ---
Oak. These terms are variously rendered as the trees and stones mentioned in Scripture, will probably never be ascertained.
Gill: Hos 4:1 - -- Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel,.... The people of the ten tribes, as distinct from Judah, Hos 4:15, the prophet having finished his ...
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel,.... The people of the ten tribes, as distinct from Judah, Hos 4:15, the prophet having finished his parables he was ordered to take up and deliver, and his explanations of them, and concluded with a gracious promise of the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, enters upon a new discourse, which begins with reproof for various sins; since what had been delivered in parables and types had had no effect upon them, they are called upon to hear what the Lord would say to them by the prophet, in more clear and express terms; silence is ordered, and attention required to what follows:
for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land; the land of Israel; against him they had sinned, before him they stood guilty; he had something, yea, many things, against them; a charge is brought into open court, the indictment is read, an answer must be made: God is the antagonist, that moves and brings on the controversy in a judicial way, and who can answer him for one of a thousand? or stand before him, or in court with him, when he marks iniquity? the charge is as follows,
because there is no truth; none that do or speak truth; that are true and faithful men, true to their word, and faithful to their trust; no truth of grace in them, nor truth of doctrine held and received by them; truth failed from among them, and none were valiant for it; no truth or civil faith with respect to men, nor any truth of word or worship with respect to God:
nor mercy: to poor and indigent creatures; no compassion shown them; no offices of humanity or acts of beneficence exercised towards them; though these are more desirable by the Lord than, and are preferred by him to, all ceremonial sacrifices, Hos 6:6, or no piety, religion, godliness, powerful godliness, which has the promise of this life, and that to come:
nor knowledge of God in the land; in the land of Israel, where God was used to be known; where he had been worshipped; were his word had been dispensed, and his prophets had been sent, and his saints that knew him, and his mind and will, formerly had dwelt; but now a company of atheists, at least that lived as such, and had no true spiritual saving knowledge of God, and communion with him; they had not true love to him, nor a godly reverence of him, which this implies; and that was the source of all the wickedness committed by them, afterwards expressed. The Targum is,
"there are none that do truth, nor dispense mercy, nor walk in the fear of the Lord, in the land.''
Gill: Hos 4:2 - -- By swearing, and lying,.... Which some join together, and make but one sin of it, false swearing, so Jarchi and Kimchi; but that swearing itself signi...
By swearing, and lying,.... Which some join together, and make but one sin of it, false swearing, so Jarchi and Kimchi; but that swearing itself signifies, as the Targum interprets it; for it not only takes in all cursing and imprecations, profane oaths, and taking the name of God in vain, and swearing by the creatures, but may chiefly design perjury; which, though one kind of "lying", may be distinguished from it here; the latter intending "lying" in common, which the devil is the father of, mankind are incident unto, and which is abominable to God, whether in civil or in religious things: "and killing, and stealing and committing adultery"; murders, thefts, and adulteries, were very common with them; sins against the sixth, eighth, and seventh commandments:
they break out; through all the restraints of the laws of God and man, like an unruly horse that breaks his bridle and runs away; or like wild beasts, that break down the fences and enclosures about them, and break out, and get away; or like a torrent of water, that breaks down its dams and banks, and overflows the meadows and plains; such a flood and deluge of sin abounded in the nation. Some render it, "they thieve" o; or act the part of thieves and robbers: and the Targum,
"they beget sons of their neighbours' wives;''
and so Abarbinel interprets it of breaking through the hedge of another man's wife; but these sins are observed before:
and blood toucheth blood; which some understand of sins in general, so called, because filthy and abominable; and of the addition and multiplication of them, there being as it were heaps of them, or rather a chain of them linked together. So the Targum,
"and they add sins to sins.''
Others interpret it of impure mixtures, of incestuous lusts, or marriages contrary to the ties of blood, and laws of consanguinity, Lev 18:6, or rather it is to be understood of the great effusion of blood, and frequency of murders; so that there was scarce any interval between them, but a continued series of them. Some think respect is had to the frequent slaughter of their kings; Zachariah the son of Jeroboam was slain by Shallum, when he had reigned but six months; and Shallum was slain by Menahem when he had reigned but one month; and this Menahem was a murderer of many, smote many places, and ripped up the women with child; Pekahiah his son was killed by Pekah the son of Remaliah, and he again by Hoshea, 2Ki 15:8.
Gill: Hos 4:3 - -- Therefore shall the land mourn,.... Because of the calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through a violent drought; ...
Therefore shall the land mourn,.... Because of the calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through a violent drought; or the grass and corn being trodden down, or eaten up, by a foreign army:
and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish; that is, every man, an inhabitant thereof, shall become weak, languish away, and die through wounds received by the enemy; or for want of food, or being infected with the wasting and destroying pestilence:
with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; the one shall die in the field for want of grass to eat, and the other shall drop to the earth through the infection of the air:
yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away; or "gathered" p; to some other place, so as to disappear; or they shall be consumed and die, as Kimchi interprets it; and as all these creatures are for the good of men, for sustenance, comfort, and delight, when they are taken away, it is by way of punishment for their sins. So the Targum,
"the fishes of the sea shall be lessened for their sins.''
Gill: Hos 4:4 - -- Yet, let no man strive, nor reprove another,.... Or rather, "let no man strive, nor any man reprove us" q; and are either the words of the people, for...
Yet, let no man strive, nor reprove another,.... Or rather, "let no man strive, nor any man reprove us" q; and are either the words of the people, forbidding the prophet, or any other man, to contend with them, or reprove them for their sins, though guilty of so many, and their land in so much danger on that account: so the Targum,
"but yet they say, let not the scribe teach, nor the prophet reprove:''
or else they are the words of God to the prophet, restraining him from striving with and reproving such a people, that were incorrigible, and despised all reproof; see Eze 3:26 or of the prophet to other good men, to forbear anything of this kind, since it was all to no purpose; it was but casting pearls before swine; it was all labour lost, and in vain:
for thy people are as they that strive with the priest; they are so far from receiving correction and reproof kindly from any good men that they will rise up against, and strive with the priests, to whom not to hearken was a capital crime, Deu 17:12. Abarbinel interprets it, and some in Abendana, like the company of Korah, that contended with Aaron; suggesting that this people were as impudent and wicked as they, and there was no dealing with them. So the Targum,
"but thy people contend with their teachers;''
and will submit to no correction, and therefore it is in vain to give it them. Though some think the sense is, that all sorts of men were so corrupt, that there were none fit to be reprovers; the people were like the priests, and the priests like the people, Hos 4:9, so that when the priests reproved them, they contended with them, and said, physician, heal thyself; take the beam out of your own eye; look to yourselves, and your own sins, and do not reprove us.
Gill: Hos 4:5 - -- Therefore shall thou fall in the day,.... Either, O ye people, everyone of you, being so refractory and incorrigible; or, O thou priest, being as bad ...
Therefore shall thou fall in the day,.... Either, O ye people, everyone of you, being so refractory and incorrigible; or, O thou priest, being as bad as the people; for both, on account of their sins, should fall from their present prosperity and happiness into great evils and calamities; particularly into the hands of their enemies, and be carried captive into another land: and this should be "in the day", or "today" r; immediately, quickly, in a very short time; or in the daytime, openly, publicly, in the sight of all, of all the nations round about, who shall rejoice at it; or in the day of prosperity, while things go well, amidst great plenty of all good things, and when such a fall was least expected:
and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night: or the false prophets that are with you, as the Targum, and so Jarchi; either with you, O people, that dwell with you, teach you, and cause you to err; or with thee, O priest, being of the same family, as the prophets, many of them, were priests; now these should fall likewise into the same calamities, as it was but just they should, being the occasion of them: and this should be in the night; in the night of adversity and affliction, in the common calamity; or in the night of darkness, when they could not see at what they stumbled and fell, and so the more uncomfortable to them; or as the one falls in the day, the other falls in the night; as certainly as the one falls, so shall the other, and that very quickly, immediately, as the night follows the day:
and I will destroy thy mother; either Samaria, the metropolis of the nation; or the whole body of the people, the congregation, as the Targum, and Kimchi, and Ben Melech, being as a mother with respect to individuals; and are threatened with destruction because the corruption was general among prophets, priests, and people, and therefore none could hope to escape.
Gill: Hos 4:6 - -- My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,.... This is not to be understood of those who are the Lord's people by special grace; for they cannot h...
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,.... This is not to be understood of those who are the Lord's people by special grace; for they cannot he destroyed, at least with everlasting destruction; God's love to them, his choice of them, covenant with them, the redemption of them by Christ, and the grace of God in them, secure them from such destruction: nor can they perish through want of knowledge; for though they are by nature as ignorant as others, yet it is the determinate will of God to bring them to the knowledge of the truth, in order to salvation; and that same decree which fixes salvation as the end, secures the belief of the truth as the means; and the covenant of grace provides for their knowledge of spiritual things, as well as other spiritual blessings; in consequence of which their minds are enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and they have the knowledge of God and Christ given them, which is life eternal. But this is to he understood of the people of the ten tribes of Israel, who were nationally and nominally the people of God, were so by profession; they called themselves the people of God; and though they were idolaters, yet they professed to worship God in their idols; and as yet God's "loammi" had not taken place upon them; he still sent his prophets among them, to reprove and reform them, and they were not as yet finally rejected by him, and cast out of their land. These may be said to be "destroyed", because they were threatened with destruction, and it was near at hand, they were just upon the brink of it; and because of the certainty of it, and this "through the lack of knowledge": either in the people, who were ignorant of God, his mind, and will, and worship, and without fear and reverence of him, which was the cause of all the abominations they ran into, for which they were threatened with ruin; or in the priests, whose business it was to teach and instruct the people; but instead of teaching them true doctrine, and the true, manner of worship, taught them false doctrine, and led them into superstition and idolatry; and so they perished through the default of the priests in performing their office; which sense is confirmed by what follows:
because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me; the priests that Jeroboam made were of the lowest of the people, ignorant and illiterate men, 1Ki 12:31 and they chose to continue such; they rejected with contempt and abhorrence, as the word signifies, the knowledge of God, and of all divine things; of the law of God, concerning what was to be done, or not to be done, by the people; and of all statutes and ordinances relating to divine worship, and the performance of the priestly office: and though there might be some of Aaron's line that continued in the land of Israel, and in their office; yet these affected the same ignorance, and therefore the Lord threatens them with a rejection from the priesthood; or, however, that they should be no priests to him, or in his account, but should be had in the utmost abhorrence and contempt, The word here used has a letter in it more than usual s, which may signify the utter rejection of them, and the great contempt they were had in by the Lord; this was to take place, and did, at the captivity by Shalmaneser.
Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God: which he had given them, who was their God by profession; and which they had forgot as if they never had read or learnt it; and so as not to observe and keep it themselves, nor teach and instruct others in it:
I will also forget thy children; have no regard to them, take no notice and care of them, as if they were never known by him; meaning either the people in general, their disciples and spiritual children; or else their natural children, who should be cut off, and not succeed them in the priesthood. The words are very emphatic, "I will forget them, even I" t; which expresses the certainty of it more fully, as well as more clearly points at the justness of the retaliation.
Gill: Hos 4:7 - -- As they were increased, so they sinned against me,.... As the children of the priests increased and grew up, they sinned against the Lord, imitating t...
As they were increased, so they sinned against me,.... As the children of the priests increased and grew up, they sinned against the Lord, imitating their parents; they were as many sinners as they were persons, not one to be excepted: this expresses their universal depravity and corruption. Some understand it of their increase, as in number, so in riches, wealth, honour, dignity, and authority, and yet they sinned more and more; which shows their ingratitude. So the Targum,
"as I have multiplied fruits unto them, &c.''
Therefore will I change their glory into shame, take away their priesthood from them, so that they shall be no more priests, and as if they never had been; and reduce them to a state of poverty, meanness, and disgrace; and cause them to go into captivity with the meanest of the people; and be in no more honour, but subject to as much scorn and contempt as they.
Gill: Hos 4:8 - -- They eat up the sin of my people,.... That is, the priests did so, as the Targum, the priests of Jeroboam; they ate up the sacrifices which the people...
They eat up the sin of my people,.... That is, the priests did so, as the Targum, the priests of Jeroboam; they ate up the sacrifices which the people brought for their sins: and their fault was, either that they ate that which belonged to the true priests of the Lord, so Jarchi; or they did that, and had no concern to instruct the people in the right way; all that they regarded were good eating and drinking, and living voluptuously; and were altogether careless about instructing the people in the nature of sacrifices, and in the way of their duty: or this may regard the Bacchanalian feasts, as some think, which the people made in the temples of idols, and so sinned; and of which the priests greatly partook, and encouraged them in, and so were partakers not only of their banquets, but of their sins.
They set their heart on their iniquity: either their offerings for their iniquity, or their iniquity itself: or, "lift up their soul" u to it; diligently looking after it, not caring how much they committed; since the more sin offerings would be brought which would be to their advantage. Though some think the sin of whoredom, frequently and impudently committed at these idol feasts, is meant, which the priests were much addicted to, and very greedy of; they committed cleanness with greediness, Eph 4:19.
Gill: Hos 4:9 - -- And there shall be, like people, like priest,.... No difference between them in their festivals, the one being as greedy of committing intemperance an...
And there shall be, like people, like priest,.... No difference between them in their festivals, the one being as greedy of committing intemperance and uncleanness as the other, and in their common conversation of life; though the priests ought both to have given good instructions, and to have set good examples; but instead of that were equally guilty as the people, and so would be alike in their punishment, as it follows:
and I will punish them for their ways; their evil ways, as the Targum; their wicked manner of life and conversation, both of the people and the priests; especially the latter are meant: or, "I will visit upon him his ways" w; upon everyone of the priests, as well as the people; which visit must be understood in a way of wrath and vengeance:
and reward them their doings; reward them according to their doings, as their sins deserve, and as it is explained in the next verse: or, "I will return their doings to them" x; bring them back again, when they seemed to be past and gone, and set them before them, and charge them with them, and punish for them.
Gill: Hos 4:10 - -- For they shall eat, and not have enough,.... Namely, the priests; for of them the words are continued, who ate of the sacrifices of the people, and of...
For they shall eat, and not have enough,.... Namely, the priests; for of them the words are continued, who ate of the sacrifices of the people, and of feasts made in honour of idols; and yet, either what they ate did not satisfy or nourish them, or else their appetites were still greedy after more of the same kind: or this may respect a famine, either at the siege of Samaria, or in their captivity; when they who had lived so voluptuously should have so little to eat, that it should not satisfy them: or though, as others, they eat to the honour of their idols, expecting to be blessed with plenty by them, they shall not have it:
they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase; that is, their offspring; they shall not beget children, so the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; or the children they beget shall quickly die; yea, though they commit whoredom in the idol's temple with that view, where the women prostituted themselves for that purpose:
because they have left off to take heed to the Lord; to his word, and worship, and ordinances, which they formerly had some regard unto, but now had relinquished: or, "the Lord they have forsaken", or "left off to observe" y; his ways, his word, and worship. R. Saadiah connects this with the following words, they have forsaken the Lord to observe fornication and wine; but wrongly.
Gill: Hos 4:11 - -- Whoredom and wine, and new wine, take away the heart. Uncleanness and intemperance besot men, deprive them of reason and judgment, and even of common ...
Whoredom and wine, and new wine, take away the heart. Uncleanness and intemperance besot men, deprive them of reason and judgment, and even of common sense, make them downright fools, and so stupid as to do the following things; or they take away the heart from following the Lord, and taking heed to him, and lead to idolatry; or they "occupy" z the heart, and fill it up, and cause it to prefer sensual lusts and pleasures to the fear and love of God: their stupidity brought on hereby is exposed in the next verse; though it seems chiefly to respect the priests, who erred in vision through wine and strong drink, and stumbled in judgment, Isa 28:7.
Gill: Hos 4:12 - -- My people ask counsel at their stocks,.... Or "at his wood" a, or stick; his wooden image, as the Targum; their wooden gods, their idols made of wood,...
My people ask counsel at their stocks,.... Or "at his wood" a, or stick; his wooden image, as the Targum; their wooden gods, their idols made of wood, mere stocks and blocks, without life or sense, and much less reason and understanding, and still less divinity. Reference is here had either to the matter of which an idol was made, being the trunk of a tree, or a block of wood; as the poet b introduces Priapus saying, "olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum": or to sticks of wood themselves, without being put into any form or shape; for so it is reported c, that the ancient idolaters used to receive for gods, with great veneration, trees or pieces of wood, having the bark taken off; particularly the Carians worshipped for Diana a piece of wood, not hewed, squared, or planed d: though the first seems rather to be the sense here; and either was extremely foolish. And yet such was the stupidity of this people, whom God had formerly chose for his people and had distinguished them by his favours from others, and they had professed themselves to be his people, and as yet were not utterly cast off, as to forsake him and his divine oracles, and all methods of knowing his will; as to ask counsel of such wooden deities in matters of moment and difficulty, what should be done by them, or concerning things to come.
And their staff declareth unto them; what methods are to be taken by them in the present case, or what shall come to pass, as they fancy; that is, either their idol, made of a staff or stick of wood, or a little image carried on a staff; such as probably were the teraphim they consulted, instead of the Urim and Thummim; and imagined they declared to them what they should do, or what would befall them. Kimchi's father interprets it of the false prophets on whom they depended, and whose declarations they received as oracles. Perhaps some respect is had to a sort of divination used among the Heathens by rods and staves, called "rhabdomancy", which the Jews had learnt of them; like that by arrows used by Nebuchadnezzar, Eze 21:21. This was performed by setting up a stick or staff, and as that fell, so they judged and determined what was to be done. The manner, according to Theophylact on the place, was this,
"they set up two rods, and muttered some verses and enchantments; and then the rods falling through the influence of demons, they considered how they fell, whether forward or backward, to the right or the left; and so gave answers to the foolish people, using the fall of the rods for signs.''
The Jews take this to be forbid by that negative precept, Deu 18:10, "there shall not be found among you any that useth divination". So Jarchi and Baal Hatturim on that text explain a diviner by one that holds his staff; and the former adds and says, shall I go, or shall I not go? as it is said, "my people ask counsel at their stocks", &c.; the manner of which they thus describe e,
"when they are about to go on a journey, they inquire before they set out, i.e. whether it will be prosperous or not; and the diviner takes a branch of a tree, and takes off the bark on one side, and leaves it on the other, and then throws it out of his hand; if, when it falls, the bark is uppermost, he says, this is a man; then he casts it again, and if the white is uppermost, this is a woman; to a man, and after that a woman, this is a good sign, and he goes his journey, or does what be desires to do: but if the white appears first, and after that the bark, then he says, to a woman, and after that a man, and he forbears (that is, to go on his journey, or do what he desired): but if the bark is uppermost in both (throws), or the white uppermost in both, to a man after a man, and a woman after a woman, then his journey (as to the success of it) is between both; and so they say they do in the land of Slavonia.''
And from the Slavonians, Grotius says, the Germans took this way of divination, of which Tacitus f gives an account; and it seems by him that the Chaldeans also had it, from whom the Jews might have it. This way of divination by the staff is a little differently given in Hascuni: g the diviner measures his staff with his finger, or with his hand; one time he says, I will go; another time, I will not go; but if it happens, at the end of the staff, I will not go, he goes not.
For the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err; a violent inclination and bias of mind to idolatry, which is spiritual adultery, and a strong affection for it, stirred up by an evil spirit, the devil; which so wrought upon them, and influenced them, as to cause them to wander from the true God, and his worship, as follows:
and they have gone a whoring from under their God; or
"erred from the worship of their God,''
as the Targum; from the true God, who stood in the relation of a husband to them; but, led by a spirit of error, they departed from him, and committed spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry; which is explained and enlarged upon in the next verse.
Gill: Hos 4:13 - -- They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,.... The highest part of them, nearest to the heavens, where they built their altars to idols, and offer...
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,.... The highest part of them, nearest to the heavens, where they built their altars to idols, and offered sacrifice unto them, as we often read in Scripture they did:
and burn incense upon the hills; to their idols, which was one kind of sacrifice put for all others:
under oaks, and poplars, and elms; and indeed under every green tree that grew upon them, where there were groves of them raised up for this purpose; see Jer 2:20,
because the shadow, thereof is good; the shadow of these trees, of each of them, was large, and preserved them from the sultry heat of the sun, as well as hid them from the sight of men; they could perform their idolatrous rites, as well as gratify their impure lusts, with more privacy and secrecy; and perhaps they thought the gods delighted in such shady places, and that these were frequented by spirits, and the departed souls of men; in such places the Heathens, whom the Jews imitated, built their temples, and offered their sacrifices g. The "oak" is a very spreading tree; its branches are large, and its shadow very great: hence the religious Heathens in ancient times used to live under them, and worship them as gods, and dedicate temples to them, because they furnished them with acorns for food, and a shelter from the rain, and other inclemencies of the heavens h; particularly the oak was consecrated to Jupiter, as appears from what Virgil says i. The oak at Dodona is famous for its antiquity, where were a fountain and groves, and a temple dedicated to the same Heathen deity; and from whence oracles were given forth k. The Druids here in Britain chose to have their groves of oaks; nor did they perform any of their sacred rites without the leaves of them: hence Pliny l says they had their name. The "poplar" mentioned is the white poplar, as the word used signifies, and which affords a very hospitable shadow, as the poet m calls it; and this was a tree also with the Heathens sacred to their gods, particularly to Hercules n; because it is said he brought it first into Greece from the river Acheron, where it grew; and the wood of no other tree would the Eleans use, in preparing the sacrifices for Jupiter Olympius o. The "elm" is also a very shady tree; hence Virgil p calls it "ulmus opaca, ingens": and under this tree sacrifices used to be offered to idols, as is evident from Eze 6:13, where the same word is used as here, though it is there rendered an "oak"; but that it is different from the oak appears from these two words being read together, so that they cannot be names of one and the same tree, Isa 6:13, where it is rendered the "teil tree", as distinct from the oak. Now these trees being very shady ones, and under which the Gentiles used to perform their religious rites, the Jews imitated them therein, which is here complained of.
Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredoms, and your spouses shall commit adultery; or their "sons' wives" q; either spiritually, that is, commit idolatry by the example of their parents and husbands; or corporeally, being left at home while their parents and husbands were worshipping their idols upon the mountains, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi: and so this is to be considered as a punishment of the idolatry of their parents and husbands; that as they commit spiritual adultery against God, or idolatry, their daughters and wives shall be given up to such vile affections, or by force shall be made to commit corporeal adultery against them; or rather the sense is, led by the example of their parents and husbands, whom they see not only sacrifice to idols in the above places, but commit uncleanness with harlots there, they will throw off all shame, and commit whoredom with men: for so the words may be rendered, "hence your daughters", &c.; so Abarbinel.
expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Hos 4:1 Heb “there is no truthfulness nor loyalty nor knowledge of God in the land.” Here “knowledge of God” refers to recognition of ...
NET Notes: Hos 4:2 Heb “they break out and bloodshed touches bloodshed.” The Hebrew term פָּרַץ (parats, “to break ...
NET Notes: Hos 4:4 The singular noun כֹּהֵן (cohen, “priest”) may be understood as a singular of number (so KJV, NASB, NR...
NET Notes: Hos 4:7 The MT reads אָמִיר (’amir, “I will change, exchange”; Hiphil imperfect 1st person common singul...
NET Notes: Hos 4:9 Heb “And it shall be, like people, like priest” (so ASV); NAB “The priests shall fare no better than the people.”
NET Notes: Hos 4:10 Heb “by guarding harlotry.” The present translation assumes that the first word of v. 11 in the Hebrew text is to be taken with the infini...
NET Notes: Hos 4:11 Heb “take away the heart of my people.” The present translation assumes that the first word of v. 12 in the Hebrew text is to be construed...
NET Notes: Hos 4:12 Heb “adultery.” The adjective “spiritual” is supplied in the translation to clarify that apostasy is meant here.
NET Notes: Hos 4:13 The phrase “they sacrifice” is not repeated in the Hebrew text here but is implied by parallelism; it is provided in the translation for t...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD ( a ) hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because [there is] no truth,...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and ( b ) blood toucheth blood.
( b ) In every place appe...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:4 Yet ( c ) let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people [are] as they that strive with the priest.
( c ) As though he would say that it was ...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the ( d ) day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy ( e ) mother.
( d ) You wi...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because ( f ) thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:7 As they were ( h ) increased, so they sinned against me: [therefore] will I change their glory into shame.
( h ) The more I was beneficial to them.
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:8 ( i ) They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
( i ) That is, the priests seek to eat the people's offerings, an...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:9 And there shall be, like people, like ( k ) priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
( k ) Signifying that as the...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall ( l ) commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:11 ( m ) Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
( m ) In giving themselves to pleasures, they become like brute beasts.
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:12 My ( n ) people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the ( o ) spirit of whoredoms hath caused [them] to err, and the...
Geneva Bible: Hos 4:13 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:...
expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Hos 4:1-19
TSK Synopsis: Hos 4:1-19 - --1 God denounces judgments on Israel, for their aggravated impieties and iniquities.12 He exposes the ignorance and wickedness of the priests, and prof...
MHCC: Hos 4:1-5 - --Hosea reproves for immorality, as well as idolatry. There was no truth, mercy, or knowledge of God in the land: it was full of murders, 2Ki 21:16. The...
MHCC: Hos 4:6-11 - --Both priests and people rejected knowledge; God will justly reject them. They forgot the law of God, neither desired nor endeavoured to retain it in m...
MHCC: Hos 4:12-19 - --The people consulted images, and not the Divine word. This would lead to disorder and sin. Thus men prepare scourges for themselves, and vice is sprea...
Matthew Henry: Hos 4:1-5 - -- Here is, I. The court set, and both attendance and attention demanded: " Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for to you is the word ...
Matthew Henry: Hos 4:6-11 - -- God is here proceeding in his controversy both with the priests and with the people. The people were as those that strove with the priests (Hos ...
Matthew Henry: Hos 4:12-19 - -- In these verses we have, as before, I. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, for which God had a controversy with them, and they are, 1. Spiri...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:1 - --
Hos 4:1-5 form the first strophe, and contain, so to speak, the theme and the sum and substance of the whole of the following threatening of punishm...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:2 - --
"Swearing, and lying, and murdering, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break in, and blood reaches to blood." The enumeration of the prev...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:3 - --
These crimes bring the land to ruin. Hos 4:3. "Therefore the land mourns, and every dweller therein, of beasts of the field and birds of the heaven...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:4 - --
Notwithstanding the outburst of the divine judgments, the people prove themselves to be incorrigible in their sins. Hos 4:4. "Only let no man reaso...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:5 - --
"And so wilt thou stumble by day, and the prophet with thee will also stumble by night, and I will destroy thy mother." Kâshal is not used here wi...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:6 - --
This thought is carried out still further in the second strophe, Hos 4:6-10. Hos 4:6. "My nation is destroyed for lack of knowledge; for thou, the ...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:7 - --
"The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; their glory will I change into shame." כּרבּם , "according to their becoming great,...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:8 - --
"The sin of my people they eat, and after their transgression do they lift up their soul." The reproof advances from the sin of the whole nation to...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:9 - --
"Therefore it will happen as to the people so to the priest; and I will visit his ways upon him, and I repay to him his doing." Since the priests h...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:10 - --
"They will eat, and not be satisfied; they commit whoredom, and do not increase: for they have left off taking heed to Jehovah." The first clause, ...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:11-12 - --
The allusion to whoredom leads to the description of the idolatrous conduct of the people in the third strophe, Hos 4:11-14, which is introduced wit...
Keil-Delitzsch: Hos 4:13 - --
This whoredom is still further explained in the next verse. Hos 4:13. "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and upon the hills they burn ...
Constable -> Hos 2:2--4:1; Hos 2:14--4:1; Hos 4:1--6:4; Hos 4:1--5:15; Hos 4:1-19; Hos 4:1-3; Hos 4:4-10; Hos 4:11-14
Constable: Hos 2:2--4:1 - --III. The second series of messages of judgment and restoration: marital unfaithfulness 2:2--3:5
These messages d...
Constable: Hos 2:14--4:1 - --B. Promises of restoration 2:14-3:5
Three messages follow the two on coming judgment. They assure Israel...
Constable: Hos 4:1--6:4 - --IV. The third series of messages on judgment and restoration: widespread guilt 4:1--6:3
The remaining messages t...
Constable: Hos 4:1--5:15 - --A. The judgment oracles chs. 4-5
Chapters 4 and 5 contain more messages of judgment. Chapter 4 focuses o...
Constable: Hos 4:1-19 - --1. Yahweh's case against Israel ch. 4
This chapter exposes Israel's sins more particularly than ...
Constable: Hos 4:1-3 - --Israel's breach of covenant 4:1-3
The Lord brought a legal charge against the Israelites for breaking the Mosaic Covenant. Again the literary form of ...
Constable: Hos 4:4-10 - --The guilt of Israel's priests 4:4-10
In this pericope God addressed the Israelites as a whole but identified sins of their priests in particular.
4:4 ...
Constable: Hos 4:11-14 - --The guilt of Israel's idolatrous citizens 4:11-14
The following section is a general indictment of the people of Israel for their idolatry.
4:11 The p...
Guzik -> Hos 4:1-19
Guzik: Hos 4:1-19 - --Hosea 4 - Israel's Sin and God's Remedy
A. The charge against Israel.
1. (1-3) A statement of the charge: Israel's sin and God's remedy.
Hear the ...
expand allCommentary -- Other
Evidence: Hos 4:1 THE FUNCTION OF THE LAW There is a controversy between God and the world . When truth is not preached, mercy isn't understood, and the world therefo...
Evidence: Hos 4:6 This is perhaps the most commonly quoted verse in the Old Testament, but rarely do you hear it quoted in full. People who lack knowledge of God's Law ...
expand allIntroduction / Outline
JFB: Hosea (Book Introduction) THE first of the twelve minor prophets in the order of the canon (called "minor," not as less in point of inspired authority, but simply in point of s...
JFB: Hosea (Outline)
INSCRIPTION. (Hos 1:1-11)
Spiritual whoredom of Israel set forth by symbolical acts; Gomer taken to wife at God's command: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and ...
TSK: Hosea 4 (Chapter Introduction) Overview
Hos 4:1, God denounces judgments on Israel, for their aggravated impieties and iniquities; Hos 4:12, He exposes the ignorance and wickedn...
Poole: Hosea (Book Introduction) THE ARGUMENT
Without dispute our prophet is one of the obscurest and most difficult to unfold clearly and fully. Though he come not, as Isaiah and ...
Poole: Hosea 4 (Chapter Introduction) CHAPTER 4
God’ s judgments against the sins of the people, Hos 4:1-5 , and of the priests, Hos 4:6-11 , and against their idolatry, Hos 4:12-1...
MHCC: Hosea (Book Introduction) Hosea is supposed to have been of the kingdom of Israel. He lived and prophesied during a long period. The scope of his predictions appears to be, to ...
MHCC: Hosea 4 (Chapter Introduction) (Hos 4:1-5) God's judgments against the sins of the people.
(Hos 4:6-11) And of the priests.
(Hos 4:12-19) Idolatry is reproved, and Judah is admoni...
Matthew Henry: Hosea (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of the Prophet Hosea
I. We have now before us the twelve minor prophets, which some of the anc...
Matthew Henry: Hosea 4 (Chapter Introduction) Prophets were sent to be reprovers, to tell people of their faults, and to warn them of the judgments of God, to which by sin they exposed themselv...
Constable: Hosea (Book Introduction) Introduction
Title and Writer
The prophet's name is the title of the book. The book cl...
Constable: Hosea (Outline) Outline
I. Introduction 1:1
II. The first series of messages of judgment and restoration: Ho...
Constable: Hosea Hosea
Bibliography
Andersen, Francis I., and David Noel Freedman. Hosea: A New Translation, Introduction and Co...
Haydock: Hosea (Book Introduction) THE PROPHECY OF OSEE.
INTRODUCTION.
Osee , or Hosea, whose name signifies a saviour, was the first in the order of time among those who are ...
Gill: Hosea (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA
This book, in the Hebrew Bibles, at least in some copies, is called "Sopher Hosea", the Book of Hoses; and, in the Vulgate La...
Gill: Hosea 4 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 4
This chapter contains a new sermon or prophecy, delivered in proper and express words, without types and figures, as before...
