@Ho 9:1-17. WARNING AGAINST ISRAEL'S JOY AT PARTIAL RELIEF FROM THEIR TROUBLES: THEIR CROPS SHALL FAIL, AND THE PEOPLE LEAVE THE LORD'S LAND FOR EGYPT AND ASSYRIA, WHERE THEY CANNOT, IF SO INCLINED, SERVE GOD ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT RITUAL: FOLLY OF THEIR FALSE PROPHETS.
1. Rejoice not . . . for joy--literally, "to exultation." Thy
exultation at the league with Pul, by which peace seems secured, is out
of place: since thy idolatry will bring ruin on thee.
as other people--the Assyrians for instance, who, unlike thee, are
in the height of prosperity.
loved a reward upon every corn floor--Thou hast desired, in reward for thy homage to idols, abundance of corn on every threshing-floor
(@Ho 2:12).
2. (@Ho 2:9,12).
fail--disappoint her expectation.
3. return to Egypt--(See on Ho 8:13). As in
@Ho 11:5 it is said, "He shall not return into . . . Egypt."
FAIRBAIRN thinks it is not the exact country that is meant, but the
bondage state with which, from past experience, Egypt was
identified in their minds. Assyria was to be a second Egypt to them.
@De 28:68, though threatening a return to Egypt, speaks (@De 28:36)
of their being brought to a nation which
neither they nor their fathers had known, showing that it is not
the literal Egypt, but a second Egypt-like bondage that is threatened.
eat unclean things in Assyria--reduced by necessity to eat meats
pronounced unclean by the Mosaic law (@Eze 4:13). See @2Ki 17:6.
4. offer wine offerings--literally, "pour as a libation
(@Ex 30:9 Le 23:13).
neither shall they be pleasing unto him--as being offered on a profane
soil.
sacrifices . . . as the bread of mourners--which was unclean
(@De 26:14 Jer 16:7 Eze 24:17).
their bread for their soul--their offering for the expiation of their
soul [CALVIN], (@Le 17:11). Rather, "their bread for their sustenance
('soul' being often used for the animal life, @Ge 14:21,
Margin) shall not come into the Lord's house"; it shall only subserve
their own uses, not My worship.
5. (@Ho 2:11).
6. because of destruction--to escape from the devastation of their
country.
Egypt shall gather them up--that is, into its sepulchres
(@Jer 8:2 Eze 29:5). Instead of returning to Palestine, they should
die in Egypt.
Memphis--famed as a necropolis.
the pleasant places for their silver--that is, their desired
treasuries for their money. Or, "whatever precious thing they have of
silver" [MAURER].
nettles--the sign of desolation (@Isa 34:13).
7. visitation--vengeance: punishment (@Isa 10:3).
Israel shall know it--to her cost experimentally (@Isa 9:9).
the prophet is a fool--The false prophet who foretold prosperity to
the nation shall be convicted of folly by the event.
the spiritual man--the man pretending to inspiration
(@La 2:14 Eze 13:3 Mic 3:11 Zep 3:4).
for the multitude of thine iniquity, &c.--Connect these words with,
"the days of visitation . . . are come"; "the prophet . . . is mad,"
being parenthetical.
the great hatred--or, "the great provocation"
[HENDERSON]; or, "(thy)
great apostasy" [MAURER]. English Version means Israel's "hatred"
of God's prophets and the law.
8. The watchman . . . was with my God--The spiritual watchmen, the
true prophets, formerly consulted my God (@Jer 31:6 Hab 2:1); but
their so-called prophet is a snare, entrapping Israel into idolatry.
hatred--rather, "(a cause of) apostasy" (see @Ho 9:7)
[MAURER].
house of his God--that is, the state of Ephraim, as in @Ho 8:1
[MAURER]. Or, "the house of his (false) god," the calves
[CALVIN]. Jehovah,
"my God," seems contrasted with "his God."
CALVIN'S view is
therefore preferable.
9. as in the days of Gibeah--as in the day of the perpetration of the atrocity of Gibeah, narrated in @Jud 19:16-22, &c.
10. As the traveller in a wilderness is delighted at finding grapes
to quench his thirst, or the early fig (esteemed a great delicacy in the
East, @Isa 28:4 Jer 24:2 Mic 7:1); so it was My delight to choose
your fathers as My peculiar people in Egypt (@Ho 2:15).
at her first time--when the first-fruits of the tree become ripe.
went to Baal-peor--(@Nu 25:3): the Moabite idol, in whose worship
young women prostituted themselves; the very sin Israel latterly was
guilty of.
separated themselves--consecrated themselves.
unto that shame--to that shameful or foul idol (@Jer 11:13).
their abominations were according as they loved--rather, as
Vulgate, "they became abominable like the object of their love"
(@De 7:26 Ps 115:8). English Version gives good sense, "their
abominable idols they followed after, according as their lusts prompted
them" (@Am 4:5, Margin).
11. their glory shall fly away--fit retribution to those who "separated
themselves unto that shame" (@Ho 9:10). Children were accounted
the glory of parents; sterility, a reproach. "Ephraim" means
"fruitfulness" (@Ge 41:52); this its name shall cease to be its
characteristic.
from the birth . . . womb . . . conception--Ephraim's children shall
perish in a threefold gradation; (1) From the time of birth. (2) From
the time of pregnancy. (3) From the time of their first conception.
12. Even though they should rear their children, yet will I bereave
them (the Ephraimites) of them (@Job 27:14).
woe . . . to them when I depart--Yet the ungodly in their madness
desire God to depart from them (@Job 21:14 22:17 Mt 8:34). At last
they know to their cost how awful it is when God has departed
(@De 31:17 1Sa 28:15,16; compare @Ho 9:11 1Sa 4:21).
13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus . . . in a pleasant place--that is, in
looking towards Tyrus (on whose borders Ephraim lay) I saw Ephraim
beautiful in situation like her (@Eze 26:1-28:26).
is planted--as a fruitful tree; image suggested by the meaning of
"Ephraim" (@Ho 9:11).
bring forth his children to the murderer--(@Ho 9:16 Ho 13:16). With
all his fruitfulness, his children shall only be brought up to be slain.
14. what wilt thou give?--As if overwhelmed by feeling, he deliberates
with God what is most desirable.
give . . . a miscarrying womb--Of two evils he chooses the least. So
great will be the calamity, that barrenness will be a blessing, though
usually counted a great misfortune (@Job 3:3 Jer 20:14 Lu 23:29).
15. All their wickedness--that is, their chief guilt.
Gilgal--(see on Ho 4:15). This was the scene of their first
contumacy in rejecting God and choosing a king (@1Sa 11:14,15; compare
@1Sa 8:7), and of their subsequent idolatry.
there I hated them--not with the human passion, but holy hatred of
their sin, which required punishment to be inflicted on themselves
(compare @Mal 1:3).
out of mine house--as in @Ho 8:1: out of the land holy unto ME.
Or, as "love" is mentioned immediately after, the reference may be to
the Hebrew mode of divorce, the husband (God) putting the wife
(Israel) out of the house.
princes . . . revolters--"Sarim . . . Sorerim" (Hebrew), a
play on similar sounds.
16. The figures "root," "fruit," are suggested by the word "Ephraim," that is, fruitful (see on Ho 9:11,12). "Smitten," namely, with a blight (@Ps 102:4).
17. My God--"My," in contrast to "them," that is, the people, whose
God Jehovah no longer is. Also Hosea appeals to God as supporting his
authority against the whole people.
wanderers among . . .
nations--(@2Ki 15:29 1Ch 5:26).