@Ho 4:1-19. HENCEFORTH THE PROPHET SPEAKS PLAINLY AND WITHOUT SYMBOL, IN TERSE, SENTENTIOUS PROPOSITIONS.
In this chapter he reproves the people and priests for their sins in the interregnum which followed Jeroboam's death; hence there is no mention of the king or his family; and in @Ho 4:2 bloodshed and other evils usual in a civil war are specified.
1. Israel--the ten tribes.
controversy--judicial ground of complaint
(@Isa 1:18 Jer 25:31 Mic 6:2).
no . . . knowledge of God--exhibited in practice
(@Jer 22:16).
2. they break out--bursting through every restraint.
blood toucheth blood--literally, "bloods." One act of bloodshed follows
another without any interval between (see @2Ki 15:8-16,25 Mic 7:2).
3. land . . . languish--(@Isa 19:8 24:4 Joe 1:10,12).
sea--including all bodies of water, as pools and even rivers
(see on Isa 19:5). A general drought, the greatest calamity
in the East, is threatened.
4. let no man . . . reprove--Great as is the sin of Israel, it is
hopeless to reprove them; for their presumptuous guilt is as great as
that of one who refuses to obey the priest when giving judgment in the
name of Jehovah, and who therefore is to be put to death (@De 17:12).
They rush on to their own destruction as wilfully as such a one.
thy people--the ten tribes of Israel; distinct from Judah
(@Ho 4:1).
5. fall in the day--in broad daylight, a time when an attack
would not be expected (see on Jer 6:4,5;
Jer 15:8).
in . . . night--No time, night or day, shall be free from the slaughter
of individuals of the people, as well as of the false prophets.
thy mother--the Israelitish state, of which the citizens are the
children (@Ho 2:2).
6. lack of knowledge--"of God" (@Ho 4:1), that is, lack of piety.
Their ignorance was wilful, as the epithet, "My people," implies;
they ought to have known, having the opportunity, as the people of
God.
thou--O priest, so-called. Not regularly constituted, but still bearing
the name, while confounding the worship of Jehovah and of the calves in
Beth-el (@1Ki 12:29,31).
I will . . . forget thy children--Not only those who then were alive
should be deprived of the priesthood, but their children who, in the
ordinary course would have succeeded them, should be set aside.
7. As they were increased--in numbers and power. Compare @Ho 4:6,
"thy children," to which their "increase" in numbers refers.
so they sinned--(Compare @Ho 10:1 and @Ho 13:6).
will I change their glory into shame--that is, I will strip them of
all they now glory in (their numbers and power), and give them
shame instead. A just retribution: as they changed their glory into
shame, by idolatry (@Ps 106:20 Jer 2:11 Ro 1:23 Php 3:19).
8. eat . . . sin of my people--that is, the sin offerings
(@Le 6:26 10:17). The priests greedily devoured them.
set their heart on their iniquity--literally "lift up the animal soul
to lust after," or strongly desire. Compare @De 24:15, Margin; @Ps 24:4 Jer 22:27. The priests set their o
wn<
/I> hearts on the
iniquity of the people, instead of trying to suppress it. For the
more the people sinned, the more sacrificial victims in atonement for
sin the priests gained.
9. like people, like priest--They are one in guilt; therefore they
shall be one in punishment (@Isa 24:2).
reward them their doings--in homely phrase, "pay them back in their
own coin" (@Pr 1:31).
10. eat, and not have enough--just retribution on those who "eat up
(greedily) the sin of My people" (@Ho 4:8 Mic 6:14 Hag 1:6).
whoredom, and . . . not increase--literally "break forth"; used of
giving birth to children (@Ge 28:14, Margin; compare
@Ge 38:29). Not only their wives, but their concubines, shall be
barren. To be childless was considered a great calamity among the Jews.
11. A moral truth applicable to all times. The special reference here
is to the licentious orgies connected with the Syrian worship, which
lured Israel away from the pure worship of God (@Isa 28:1,7 Am 4:1).
take away the heart--that is, the understanding; make men blind to
their own true good (@Ec 7:7).
12. Instances of their understanding ("heart") being "taken away."
stocks--wooden idols (@Jer 2:27 Hab 2:19).
staff--alluding to divination by rods
(see on Eze 21:21,22).
The diviner, says ROSENMULLER, threw a rod
from him, which was stripped of its bark on one side, not on the other:
if the bare side turned uppermost, it was a good omen; if the side with
the bark, it was a bad omen. The Arabs used two rods, the one marked
God bids, the other, God forbids; whichever came out first, in
drawing them out of a case, gave the omen for, or against, an
undertaking.
declareth--that is, is consulted to inform them of future events.
spirit of whoredoms--a general disposition on the part of all
towards idolatry (@Ho 5:4).
err--go astray from the true God.
from under their God--They have gone away from God under whom they
were, as a wife is under the dominion of her husband.
13. upon . . . mountains--High places were selected by idolaters on
which to sacrifice, because of their greater nearness to the heavenly
hosts which they worshipped (@De 12:2).
elms--rather, "terebinths" [MAURER].
shadow . . . good--screening the lascivious worshippers from the heat
of the sun.
daughters . . . commit whoredom . . . spouses . . . adultery--in the
polluted worship of Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of love.
14. I will not punish . . . daughters--I will visit with the heaviest
punishments "not" the unchaste "daughters and spouses," but the fathers
and husbands; for it is these who "themselves" have set the bad example,
so that as compared with the punishment of the latter, that of the
former shall seem as nothing [MUNSTER].
separated with whores--withdrawn from the assembly of worshippers to
some receptacle of impurity for carnal connection with whores.
sacrifice with harlots--They commit lewdness with women who
devote their persons to be violated in honor of Astarte. (So the
Hebrew for "harlots" means, as distinguished from "whores"). Compare
@Nu 25:1-3; and the prohibition, @De 23:18.
not understand--(@Isa 44:18 45:20).
shall fall--shall be cast down.
15. Though Israel's ten tribes indulge in spiritual harlotry, at
least thou, Judah, who hast the legal priesthood, and the temple
rites, and Jerusalem, do not follow her bad example.
Gilgal--situated between Jordan and Jericho on the confines of Samaria;
once a holy place to Jehovah (@Jos 5:10-15 1Sa 10:8 15:21); afterwards
desecrated by idol-worship (@Ho 9:15 12-11 Am 4:4 5:5; compare
@Jud 3:19, Margin).
Beth-aven--that is, "house of vanity" or idols: a name substituted
in contempt for Beth-el, "the house of God"; once sacred to Jehovah
(@Ge 28:17,19 35:7), but made by Jeroboam the seat of the worship of
the calves (@1Ki 12:28-33 13:1 Jer 48:13 Am 3:14 7:13). "Go up"
refers to the fact that Beth-el was on a hill (@Jos 16:1).
nor swear, The Lord liveth--This formula of oath was appointed by God
Himself (@De 6:13 10:20 Jer 4:2). It is therefore here forbidden
not absolutely, but in conjunction with idolatry and falsehood
(@Isa 48:1 Eze 20:39 Zep 1:5).
16. backsliding--Translate, "Israel is refractory, as a refractory
heifer," namely, one that throws the yoke off her neck. Israel had
represented God under the form of "calves" (@1Ki 12:28); but it is
she herself who is one.
lamb in a large place--not in a good sense, as in @Isa 30:23. Here
there is irony: lambs like a large pasture; but it is not so safe for
them as a small one, duly fenced from wild beasts. God will "feed"
them, but it shall be with the "rod" (@Mic 7:14). It shall be no longer
in the narrow territory of Israel, but "in a large place," namely, they
shall be scattered in exile over the wide realm of Assyria, a prey to
their foes; as lambs, which are timid, gregarious, and not solitary, are
a prey when scattered asunder to wild beasts.
17. Ephraim--the ten tribes. Judah was at this time not so given to
idolatry as afterwards.
joined to--closely and voluntarily; identifying themselves with them
as a whoremonger becomes one flesh with the harlot
(@Nu 25:3 1Co 6:16,17).
idols--The Hebrew means also "sorrows," "pains," implying the pain
which idolatry brings on its votaries.
let him alone--Leave him to himself. Let him reap the fruits of his
own perverse choice; his case is desperate; say nothing to him (compare
@Jer 7:16). Here @Ho 4:15 shows the address is to Judah, to
avoid the contagion of Israel's bad example. He is bent on his own ruin;
leave him to his fate, lest, instead of saving him, thou fall thyself
(@Isa 48:20 Jer 50:8 51:6,45 2Co 6:17).
18. Their drink is sour--metaphor for utter degeneracy of principle
(@Isa 1:22). Or, unbridled licentiousness; not mere ordinary sin,
but as abandoned as drunkards who vomit and smell sour with wine
potations [CALVIN].
MAURER not so well translates, "When their drinking
is over, they commit whoredoms," namely, in honor of Astarte
(@Ho 4:13,14).
her rulers--Israel's; literally, "shields" (compare @Ps 47:9).
with shame . . . love, Give ye--(@Pr 30:15). No remedy could be
effectual against their corruptions since the very rulers sold justice
for gifts [CALVIN].
MAURER translates, "The rulers are marvelously
enamored of shame." English Version is better.
19. Israel shall be swept away from her land (@Ho 4:16) suddenly
and violently as if by "the wings of the wind"
(@Ps 18:10 104:3 Jer 4:11,12).
ashamed . . . of their sacrifices--disappointed to their shame in their
hope of help through their sacrifices to idols.