@Ho 10:1-15. ISRAEL'S IDOLATRY, THE SOURCE OF PERJURIES AND UNLAWFUL LEAGUES, SOON DESTINED TO BE THE RUIN OF THE STATE, THEIR KING AND THEIR IMAGES BEING ABOUT TO BE CARRIED OFF; A JUST CHASTISEMENT, THE REAPING CORRESPONDING TO THE SOWING.
The prophecy was uttered between Shalmaneser's first and second invasions of Israel. Compare @Ho 10:14; also @Ho 10:6, referring to Hoshea's calling So of Egypt to his aid; also @Ho 10:4,13.
1. empty--stripped of its fruits
[CALVIN], (@Na 2:2); compelled
to pay tribute to Pul (@2Ki 15:20).
MAURER translates, "A
widespreading vine"; so the Septuagint. Compare
@Ge 49:22 Ps 80:9-11 Eze 17:6.
bringeth forth fruit unto himself--not unto ME.
according to . . . multitude of . . . fruit . . . increased . . .
altars--In proportion to the abundance of their prosperity, which
called for fruit unto God (compare @Ro 6:22), was the abundance of
their idolatry (@Ho 8:4,11).
2. heart . . . divided--(@1Ki 18:21 Mt 6:24 Jas 4:8).
now--that is soon.
he--Jehovah.
break down--"cut off," namely the heads of the victims. Those altars,
which were the scene of cutting off the victims' heads, shall be
themselves cut off.
3. now, &c.--Soon they, deprived of their king, shall be reduced to say, We have no king (@Ho 10:7,15), for Jehovah deprived us of him, because of our not fearing God. What then (seeing God is against us) should a king be able to do for us, if we had one? As they rejected the heavenly King, they were deprived of their earthly king.
4. words--mere empty words.
swearing falsely in making a covenant--breaking their engagement to
Shalmaneser (@2Ki 17:4), and making a covenant with So, though
covenants with foreigners were forbidden.
judgment . . . as hemlock--that is, divine judgment shall spring up as
rank, and as deadly, as hemlock in the furrows (@De 29:18 Am 5:7 6:12).
GESENIUS translates, "poppy."
GROTIUS, "darnel."
5. fear because of the calves--that is, shall fear for them.
Beth-aven--substituted for Beth-el in contempt (@Ho 4:15).
it--singular, the one in Beth-el; after the pattern of which
the other "calves" (plural) were made. "Calves" in the Hebrew is feminine, to express contempt.
priests--The Hebrew is only used of idolatrous priests (@2Ki 23:5 Zep 1:4), from a root meaning either "the black garment"
in which they were attired; or, "to resound," referring to their howling
cries in their sacred rites [CALVIN].
that rejoiced on it--because it was a source of gain to them.
MAURER translates, "Shall leap in trepidation on account of it"; as
Baal's priests did (@1Ki 18:26).
the glory thereof--the magnificence of its ornaments and its worship.
6. It . . . also--The calf, so far from saving its worshippers from
deportation, itself shall be carried off; hence "Israel shall be
ashamed" of it.
Jareb--(See on Ho 5:13). "A present
to the king (whom they looked to as) their defender," or else
avenger, whose wrath they
wished to appease, namely, Shalmaneser. The minor states applied this
title to the Great King, as the avenging Protector.
his own counsel--the calves, which Jeroboam set up as a stroke of
policy to detach Israel from Judah. Their severance from Judah and
Jehovah proved now to be not politic, but fatal to them.
7. (@Ho 10:3,15).
foam--denoting short-lived existence and speedy dissolution. As the
foam, though seeming to be eminent raised on the top of the water, yet
has no solidity, such is the throne of Samaria.
MAURER translates, "a
chip" or broken branch that cannot resist the current.
8. Aven--that is, Beth-aven.
the sin--that is, the occasion of sin (@De 9:21 1Ki 12:30).
they shall say to . . . mountains, Cover us--So terrible shall be the
calamity, that men shall prefer death to life (@Lu 23:30 Re 6:16 9:6).
Those very hills on which were their idolatrous altars (one source of
their confidence, as their "king," @Ho 10:7, was the other), so far
from helping them, shall be called on by them to overwhelm them.
9. Gibeah--(@Ho 9:9 Jud 19:1-20:48). They are singled out as a
specimen of the whole nation.
there they stood--The Israelites have, as there and then, so ever
since, persisted in their sin
[CALVIN]. Or, better, "they stood their
ground," that is, did not perish then [MAURER].
the battle . . . did not overtake them--Though God spared you then,
He will not do so now; nay, the battle whereby God punished the
Gibeonite "children of iniquity," shall the more heavily visit you for
your continued impenitence. Though "they stood" then, it shall not be so
now. The change from "thou" to "they" marks God's alienation from them;
they are, by the use of the third person, put to a greater distance from
God.
10. my desire . . . chastise--expressing God's strong inclination to vindicate His justice against sin, as being the infinitely holy God
(@De 28:63).
the people--Foreign invaders "shall be gathered against them."
when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows--image from two
oxen ploughing together side by side, in two contiguous furrows: so the
Israelites shall join themselves, to unite their powers against all
dangers, but it will not save them from My destroying them
[CALVIN].
Their "two furrows" may refer to their
two places of setting up the calves, their ground of confidence,
Dan and Beth-el; or, the two divisions of the nation, Israel and Judah, "in their two furrows," that is, in their respective two places of
habitation; @Ho 10:11, which specifies the two, favors this view.
HENDERSON prefers the Keri (Hebrew Margin) "for their two
iniquities"; and translates, "when they are bound" in captivity.
English Version is best, as the image is carried out in @Ho 10:11;
only it is perhaps better to translate, "the people (the invaders)
binding them," that is, making them captives; and so @Ho 10:11
alludes to the yoke being put on the neck of Ephraim and Judah.
11. taught--that is, accustomed.
loveth to tread out . . . corn--a far easier and more self-indulgent
work than ploughing. In treading corn, cattle were not bound together
under a yoke, but either trod it singly with their feet, or drew a
threshing sledge over it (@Isa 28:27,28): they were free to eat some
of the corn from time to time, as the law required they should be
unmuzzled (@De 25:4), so that they grew fat in this work. An image
of Israel's freedom, prosperity, and self-indulgence heretofore. But now
God will put the Assyrian yoke upon her, instead of freedom, putting her
to servile work.
I passed over upon--I put the yoke upon.
make . . . to ride--as in @Job 30:22; that is, hurry Ephraim
away to a distant region [CALVIN].
LYRA translates, "I will make
(the Assyrian) to ride upon Ephraim."
MAURER, "I will make Ephraim to
carry," namely, a charioteer.
his clods--"the clods before him."
12. Continuation of the image in @Ho 10:11 (@Pr 11:18). Act
righteously and ye shall reap the reward; a reward not of debt, but of
grace.
in mercy--according to the measure of the divine "mercy," which over
and above repays the goodness or "mercy" which we show to our fellow
man (@Lu 6:38).
break . . . fallow ground--Remove your superstitions and vices, and
be renewed.
seek . . . Lord, fill he come--Though not answered immediately,
persevere unceasingly "till He come."
rain--send down as a copious shower.
righteousness--the reward of righteousness, that is, salvation, temporal and spiritual (@1Sa 26:23; compare @Joe 2
:23
).
13. reaped iniquity--that is, the fruit of iniquity; as
"righteousness" (@Ho 10:12) is "the fruit of righteousness"
(@Job 4:8 Pr 22:8 Ga 6:7,8).
lies--false and spurious worship.
trust in thy way--thy perverse way (@Isa 57:10 Jer 2:23), thy
worship of false gods. This was their internal safeguard, as their
external was "the multitude of their mighty men."
14. tumult--a tumultuous war.
among thy people--literally, "peoples": the war shall extend to the
whole people of Israel, through all the tribes, and the peoples allied
to her.
Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel--that is, Shalmaneser, a compound name, in
which the part common to it and the names of three other Assyrian kings,
is omitted; Tiglath-pileser, Esar-haddon, Shar-ezer. So Jeconiah is
abbreviated to Coniah. Arbel was situated in Naphtali in Galilee, on the
border nearest Assyria. Against it Shalmaneser, at his first invasion
of Israel (@2Ki 17:3), vented his chief rage. God threatens Israel's
fortresses with the same fate as Arbel suffered "in the day (on the
occasion) of the battle" then well-known, though not mentioned elsewhere
(compare @2Ki 18:34). This event, close on the reign of Hezekiah,
shows the inscription of Hosea (@Ho 1:1) to be correct.
15. So shall Beth-el do unto you--Your idolatrous calf at Beth-el
shall be the cause of a like calamity befalling you.
your great wickedness--literally, "the wickedness of your wickedness."
in a morning--speedily as quickly as the dawn is put to flight by the
rising sun (@Ho 6:4 13:3 Ps 30:5).
king--Hoshea.