“They won’t return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian will be their king, because they refused to repent.
Parallel Translations
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“They won’t return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian will be their king, because they refused to repent.
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He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
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He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Hosea 11:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hosea 7:16 They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
- Hosea 8:13 As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it; But Yahweh doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.
- 2 Kings 17:13-14 Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.
- Hosea 10:6 It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king. Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel.
- Hosea 9:3 They won’t dwell in Yahweh’s land; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
- 2 Kings 15:19 Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
- 2 Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.
- 2 Kings 17:3-6 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
- 2 Kings 18:11-12 The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they didn’t obey Yahweh their God’s voice, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded, and would not hear it or do it.
- Isaiah 8:6-8 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will reach even to the neck. The stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, Immanuel.
- Jeremiah 8:4-6 “Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “ ‘Do men fall, and not rise up again? Does one turn away, and not return? Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return. I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
- Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.
- Hosea 6:1 “Come! Let’s return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
- Hosea 9:6 For, behold, they have gone away from destruction. Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents.
- Amos 4:6 “I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Amos 4:8-10 So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. “I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. “I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Amos 5:27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
- Zechariah 1:4-6 Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’ ”
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here the Prophet denounces a new punishment, that the…
Here the Prophet denounces a new punishment, that the people in vain hoped that Egypt would be a place of refuge or an asylum to them; for the Lord would draw them away to another quarter. For the Israelites had cherished this hope, that if by any chance the Assyrians should be too powerful for them, there would yet be a suitable refuge for them in Egypt among their friends, with whom they had made a treaty. Since, then, they promised themselves a hospitable exile in Egypt, the Prophet here exposes their vain confidence: “This their expectation,” he says, “that they shall find a way open to Egypt, shall disappoint the people: it is shut up,” he says, They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be their king. By saying, that the Assyrian shall rule over them, he means that the people would become exiles under the Assyrians, which indeed happened. He then anticipates here all the vain hopes by which the people deceived themselves, and by which they hardened themselves against all the threatening of God. “There is no reason for them,” he says, “to look towards Egypt; for the Lord will not allow them to go there; for he will draw them to Assyria.”
He afterwards gives the reason, Because they have been unwilling, he says, to return This “return” is to be taken in another sense: but there is here a striking similarity in the words. They thought that there would be to them a free passage into Egypt; and yet they had been unwilling to pass over unto God, when he had so often called them. The Prophet therefore says that a return into Egypt was now denied them, inasmuch as they had been unwilling to return to God. The import of what is said is, that when men perversely resist God, they in vain hope for any free movements either to this or that quarter; for the Lord will hold them tied and bound. As it is wont to be done to wild beasts, who, when they show too much ferocity, are shut up in cages or bound with chains, or as it is usually done to frantic men, who are bound with strong bands; so also the Lord does with obstinate men; he binds them fast, so that they cannot move a finger. This, then, is the meaning of the Prophet.
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There is, at the same time, to be understood, an implied comparison between the former bondage they endured in Egypt, and the new bondage which awaited them. They had known of what sort was the hospitality of Egypt, and yet so great a blindness possessed their minds, that they wished to return there. Their fathers had been kindly enough received; but their posterity were grievously burdened; nay, they were not far from being entirely destroyed. What madness was this, to wish of themselves to return to Egypt, when they knew how great was the ferociousness and cruelty of the Egyptians? But as I have said, something more grievous awaited them; they were not worthy to return to Egypt. To return there would have been indeed a dreadful calamity; but the Lord would not, however open a way for them to go there; for he would force them to pass to another country; yea, they were to be by force dragged away by their conquerors into Assyria. The drift of the whole is, that though the people had been cruelly treated in Egypt, there was now drawing nigh a more grievous tyranny; for the Assyrians would double the injuries, and the violence, and all kinds of wrongs and reproaches, which had been exercised against this people.
Some think that it was added for consolation, that God, though greatly provoked by the people, was yet unwilling to lead them again into Egypt, lest the former redemption should be made void; but that a middle course was prepared by which he would chastise the ungrateful and yet retain them as his peculiar possession. But I have already shown what I mostly approve. At the same time, whichever view is taken, we see how grievous and severe was the denunciation of the Prophet.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Seeing they contemn all this kindness, they shall be…
Seeing they contemn all this kindness, they shall be led captive into Assyria.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 11:5 He shall not return into the land…
Hos 11:5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
Ver. 5. He shall not return unto the land of Egypt] That is, he needs not run to Egypt for help (as King Hoshea did), nor to the Assyrian, to whom they were tributaries from the time of Menahem; for they wanted nothing, and less should have wanted if they would have been ruled by me.
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But they refused to return] He was not to have returned to the land of Egypt or of the Assyrian, who is his king; so some read the text. Others sense it thus: When I threaten them with the Assyrian they think to move and shelter themselves in Egypt; but I shall keep them thence, or find and ferret them out there. God knows how to cross wicked men of their will, to spoil their plots. Egypt shall prove no better than a broken reed running into the hand of him that leaneth on it, 2Ki 18:21. The Egyptian was ever an enemy to Israel; and though for his own ends he gave goodly words, and seemed reconciled, yet such reconciliations are but vulpine amicitiae, friends to the fox. But were he never so fast a friend, yet sin guilty Israel shall not have there an asylum, nec stabile stabulum {see Hos 9:3} {See Trapp on "Hos 9:3"} because the "desire of the wicked shall perish," Psa 112:10. They take counsel together, but it shall come to nought, they speak the word, but it shall not stand, Isa 8:10. Confer Isa 30:1-2; Isa 31:1-3; Pro 21:30.
But the Assyrian shall be his king] Will they, nill they, they shall be carried captive to Assyria; and since they will needs be crossing of God, he will cross them much more; he will walk contrary, to those that walk contrary to him, Lev 26:21, and be as froward as they for the hearts of them, Psa 18:26. They will not return to me, saith the Lord, they shall not therefore return to Egypt; they will not submit to my sceptre, they shall therefore have the Assyrian for their king, that proud, cruel, stout-hearted prince, Isa 10:5; Isa 10:7; Isa 10:12, who will tyrannize over their bodies and over their cattle at their pleasure, so that they shall be in great distress, Neh 9:37.
Because they refused to return] Heb. ( מאנו) they disdained to do it, scorned the motion, slighted the messenger. By their sins they had run from God; by repentance they should have returned unto him, and then the amends had been well nigh made: for quem poenitet peccasse poene est innocens, the penitent is in almost as good a case as the innocent (Sen. in Agamem.); Ambrose saith he is in a better ( plus est a vitiis se revocasse quam vitia ipsa nescivisse). But for these men, to all other their sins to add obstinace and impenitence, as Herod to all his former evils did the death of the Baptist, this was to "heap up wrath against the day of wrath," Rom 2:5. The word here rendered "refused" is by the Seventy turned they would not (ουκ ηθελησαν). That therefore they returned not to God, it was the fault of their will. True it is, they had no power to turn themselves; but the cause of that inability too was in themselves. They therefore neither could nor would return; and both by their own fault and folly.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He; Ephraim thus provided for by me, thus indulged,…
He; Ephraim thus provided for by me, thus indulged, or else Ephraim punished.
Shall not return into the land of Egypt; either needed not have courted Egypt’s friendship, or desired that assistance; I would have kept them safe enough, and sufficiently provided for them; so if you refer this to Ephraim not threatened or punished: but if Ephraim be here threatened, then you have it foretold, that though Ephraim flatters himself with false hopes of a refuge in Egypt, it should not be.
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But the Assyrian shall be his king; conquering and captivating them, should make himself their king, and rule them with rigour and cruelty. Because they refused to return; the reason of all is, their obstinacy in idolatry, and their impenitence, refusing to return to God; which two latter passages are also explicable as the former, thus, if they would have returned unto me, Assyria should not have been their king.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He shall not return into the land of Egypt,....…
He shall not return into the land of Egypt,.... Ephraim or Israel, the ten tribes: and the Septuagint and Arabic versions express them by name, though they give a wrong sense of the words, rendering them, "and Ephraim dwelt in Egypt"; he did so indeed with the other tribes formerly; but here it is said he shall not go thither again to be a captive there, but shall go into bondage more severe than that in Egypt, even into captivity in Assyria: rather the sense is, they should not go thither for shelter, at least not as a body, though some few of them might, as in Hos 9:3; the far greater part of them should he carried captive by the Assyrians: or they should not return to Egypt to seek for help and assistence, as they had done; either they ought not to do it, nor would there be any need of it, did they but return to the Lord, as Kimchi observes; or rather they should now be so straitly shut up in Samaria, besieged so closely by the enemy, or else carried into distant lands, that, if they would, they could not apply to Egypt for relief;
but the Assyrian shall be his king; the king of Assyria shall be king over the ten tribes, whether they want him or not; they shall be forced to acknowledge him as their king, and be subject to him, being taken and carried captive into his land:
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because they refused to return: to the Lord, from whom they had backslidden, and to his pure worship, word, and ordinances, they had departed from, setting up the calves at Dan and Bethel; they refused to relinquish worshipping idols instead of the true God; thus ungratefully behaving to him for all the above favours bestowed upon them; wherefore they are righteously threatened with captivity and bondage in Assyria.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He - Ephraim. Shall be king - Shall rule…
He - Ephraim. Shall be king - Shall rule them with rigor and cruelty. They refused - The reason of all is, their obstinacy in idolatry.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. He shall not return into - Egypt]…
Verse 5. He shall not return into - Egypt] I have brought them thence already, with the design that the nation should never return thither again; but as they have sinned, and forfeited my favour and protection, they shall go to Assyria; and this because they refused to return to me. This view of the verse removes every difficulty.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Hos 11:5-6. He shall not return into the land…
Hos 11:5-6. He shall not return into the land of Egypt — They were desirous of making their escape thither, and many families perhaps effected it: see note on Hos 9:6. But it is here threatened, that the nation in a body should not be permitted so to escape. But the Assyrian shall be his king — They shall be wholly in the power of the king of Assyria, and be carried away captive into his dominions; because they refused to return — Namely, to the true worship of God, and obedience to his laws, notwithstanding the many calls, reproofs, admonitions, and exhortations given them by the prophets. Their obstinacy in idolatry is the cause of all the calamities coming upon them. And the sword shall abide on his cities — His cities shall be destroyed by the conqueror’s sword; and shall consume his branches — The lesser towns and villages. Thus the word
בדיםis expounded, in a marginal note of the Bishops’ Bible. It often means the arms, or principal branches, of a great tree, and is twice translated staves, Exo 27:6. In this place some interpreters render it bars; and Abarbanel expounds it of the strong and valiant men of the nation, observing, that the chief branches of the people in a kingdom are the valiant men. Rabbi Tanchum explains it of their children; the branches, as he observes, springing from their fathers. The word, however, also signifies lies, and is so rendered Isa 16:6, and Jer 48:30. Bishop Horsley translates it diviners, deriving it from בדד, he was solitary, because they affected a solitary, ascetic life; a sense which he thinks, of all others, most apposite to the context. He acknowledges, however, that to render it branches, limbs, or bars, is admissible, and may very well suit the place.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain He shall not return to Egypt - Some had…
He shall not return to Egypt - Some had probably returned already to Egypt; the rest were looking to Egypt for help, and rebelling against the Assyrian, (whose servant their king Hoshea had become), and making alliance with So king of Egypt. The prophet tells them, as a whole, that they shall not return to Egypt to which they looked, but should have the Assyrian for their king, whom they would not. “They refused to return” to God, who lovingly called them; therefore, what they desired, they should not have; and what they feared, that they should have. They would not have God for their king; therefore “the Assyrian” should “be their king,” and a worse captivity than that of Egypt should befall them. For, from “that” they were delivered; from this, now hanging over them, never should they be restored.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Egypt. Many went, contrary to this prohibition. (Haydock) ---…
Egypt. Many went, contrary to this prohibition. (Haydock) --- Yet they did not prosper, as they expected. The Hebrews had also often murmured in the desert, and threatened to return to Egypt.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain He shall not return into . . . Egypt--namely,…
He shall not return into . . . Egypt--namely, to seek help against Assyria (compare Hos 7:11), as Israel lately had done (Kg2 17:4), after having revolted from Assyria, to whom they had been tributary from the times of Menahem (Kg2 15:19). In a figurative sense, "he shall return to Egypt" (Hos 9:3), that is, to Egypt-like bondage; also many Jewish fugitives were literally to return to Egypt, when the Holy Land was to be in Assyrian and Chaldean hands.
Assyrian shall be his king--instead of having kings of their own, and Egypt as their auxiliary.
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because they refused to return--just retribution. They would not return (spiritually) to God, therefore they shall not return (corporally) to Egypt, the object of their desire.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5-7. All this loving-kindness Israel met with shameful ingratitude;…
5-7. All this loving-kindness Israel met with shameful ingratitude; therefore judgment, in the form of an exile, will surely come (Hos_8:13; Hos_9:3).
He [“they”] shall not return into… Egypt — An evident contradiction of Hos_8:13; Hos_9:3-6; Hos_11:11. What we would expect is, “they shall return to Egypt.” LXX. removes this difficulty by connecting the word translated not with the preceding sentence and rendering it for him, which involves the change of one consonant without affecting the pronunciation; but this creates a grammatical difficulty in the preceding clause. Another attempt to remove the difficulty is to read 5a as a rhetorical question: “Shall they not return?” This implies the answer, “They surely shall return.” A rhetorical question, however, seems out of place, and a more natural way out of the difficulty is to omit the negative. Assyria is, as in the other passages, joined with Egypt.
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But — Hebrew, “and.” The exile will come because Israel failed to turn to Jehovah in repentance and obedience (compare Amo_4:6 ff.).
Hos_11:7 is the natural continuation of 5b, Hos_11:6 of 5a. Some omit Hos_11:6 as a later insertion, but without sufficient reason; nevertheless it is possible that the text has suffered in transmission. Hos_11:6-7 contain an emphatic and explanatory reiteration of the thought of Hos_11:5.
Sword — The symbol of war (Eze_14:17).
Abide on [“fall upon”] — The literal rendering is stronger, rage in, or, whirl about in.
Branches — Better R.V., “bars.” Defenses in general (compare Amo_1:5). The meaning of the Hebrew word used here is not quite certain.
Because of their own counsels — Compare Hos_10:6. Modern commentators, almost without exception, consider the text of Hos_11:7 hopelessly corrupt. The Hebrew is awkward and obscure, and the ancient versions differ both from the Hebrew and from one another. If the text is correct the translations of A.V. and R.V. are on the whole as satisfactory as any; however, the translation of 7b may be improved by reading: “Though they call them upward, none at all will lift himself up.” There is a complete moral apathy, no one even attempts to mend his ways; and this apathy is due to the spirit of apostasy which has taken complete possession of them.
They — The prophets.
Called them — The people.
To the most High — To higher things in morals and religion, It is not necessary even to enumerate the different attempts to improve the text of Hos_11:7. The reconstruction by Harper may serve as an illustration of the radical character of some of these proposed emendations: “And my people having wearied me with their rebellions, unto the yoke (that is, captivity) Jehovah will appoint them, since he has ceased to love them.”
Justice demands the casting off of Israel. Will the divine love and compassion permit it? Hos_11:8 pictures the struggle between love and justice. The result is, in a sense, a compromise. Judgment will indeed be executed, but instead of annihilating the nation it will serve to purify it. The judgment having accomplished its disciplinary purpose, Jehovah will visit his people with salvation.
How — Introduces an exclamation, not a question.
Give thee up — To destruction. The parallel clause is a repetition of the same thought, for the sake of emphasis.
Admah… Zeboim — Two cities near Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen_10:19; Gen_14:8), which, according to Deu_29:23, were destroyed with the cities of the Plain. In Genesis 19 nothing is said concerning their overthrow (but compare Gen_11:25).
Mine heart is turned — In sympathy and sorrow (Lam_1:20).
My repentings — Better, R.V., “my compassions.”
Are kindled together — Are thoroughly aroused. G.A. Smith, “my compassions begin to boil.” The same author calls this “the greatest passage in Hosea — deepest, if not highest, of his book — the breaking forth of that exhaustless mercy of the Most High which no sin of man can bar back nor wear out.”
The outcome of the struggle is expressed in Hos_11:9.
Not return (or, turn) to destroy Ephraim — Though judgment is decreed it will not be executed in the fierceness of the divine wrath. Having chosen and trained Israel for his own purpose, Jehovah cannot now turn around and undo all his former work. Why?
I am God, and not man — Jehovah is, “in the grandeur of his covenant steadfastness and long-suffering, removed to an infinite height above the vacillations and impatience of man.” The covenant was intended to be an everlasting covenant, and to it Jehovah must remain faithful.
Holy One — Consequently free from the resentments of vengeance. The prophetic conception of the divine holiness is admirably expressed in the words of Kirkpatrick: “Primarily the Hebrew root from which the word is derived seems to denote separation. It represents God as distinct from man, separate from the creation which he has called into existence. Then, since limit is the necessary condition of created things, and imperfection and sinfulness are the marks of humanity in its fallen state, the term grows to denote the separation of God from all that is limited, imperfect, and sinful. But it does not rest here in a merely negative conception. It expands so as to include the whole essential nature of God in its moral aspect.… His purity and his righteousness, his faithfulness and his truth, his mercy and his loving-kindness, nay, even his jealousy and his wrath, his zeal and his indignation — these are the different rays which combine to make up his holiness.”
In the midst of thee — These words affirm the close relation existing between Jehovah and Israel (compare Isaiah’s “the Holy One of Israel”).
I will not enter into the city — A meaningless sentence. R.V., giving an entirely different meaning to the last word, reads “I will not come in wrath” (compare Jer_15:8), which is to be preferred. Some, changing one letter, read, “I will not come to consume.”
Hos_11:8-9 are in the highest degree anthropomorphic; but it is not proper to infer from this poetic portrayal that Hosea thought of Jehovah as being fickle, and subject to the same mental or spiritual processes as man. He simply attempted to describe vividly and forcibly the love and compassion of Jehovah, the depth of which had been impressed upon him by his own domestic experience; and this he could do only by comparing divine emotions with human emotions, and describing them in language familiar to his hearers.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. He shall not return into the land of…
5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt] This however is pointless; why should Egypt be mentioned except as the land of bondage? It is also inconsistent with the statements in Hos_8:13, Hos_9:3; Hos_9:6, Hos_11:11. Some think that lo (here rendered ‘not’, but also, when spelt differently, meaning ‘to him’) belongs properly to the end of the previous verse, though no tenable way of fitting it into the construction there has yet been proposed. Others would render in Hos_11:5, ‘Shall he not return’? but this does not read naturally. At any rate, the sense required is, ‘He shall return into the land of Egypt.’ See note on Hos_8:13.
to return] viz. to Jehovah.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) It is best, with Ewald, to take the…
(5) It is best, with Ewald, to take the two clauses as interrogative, Shall he not return into the land of Egypt? And shall not the Assyrian, &c.? (See Notes on Hos_8:13; Hos_10:3-6. Comp. also Hos_11:11.)
Return—i.e., to God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain He shall not return into the land of Egypt,…
He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return. These words sound like an announcement that the season of Divine grace, so long extended to that sin-laden people, had at length expired; and that on account of their stubborn and on-grateful rebellion against Jehovah they would be forced, to go into exile and become subject to the monarch of Assyria.
(1) They had been threatened with a return to Egypt and its bondage in Hos_8:13, "They shall return to Egypt;" dud Hos_9:3, "Ephraim shall return to Egypt;" vet now God, without any change of purpose, changes his mode of procedure, not allowing them to return to Egypt, but dooming them to a worse bondage under the Assyrians.
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(2) Having been tributary to Assyria from the time of Menahem, they had revolted and applied to Egypt for help; now, however, no help would be permitted to come from Egypt nor even an opportunity of applying for it allowed. The power of Assyria would be paramount; instead, therefore, of native kings and Egyptian auxiliaries, Israel would have to submit to that iron yoke. However desirous of returning to Egypt, they would have neither the power nor the privilege of doing so. And this poor privilege of a choice of masters they were refused as a just retribution, because they had not repented of their sin and returned to God. Various methods have been resorted to, to harmonize the apparent contradiction alluded to, that is, between the affirmative and negative statements about Israel"s return into Egypt.
(1) Dathe, Eichhorn, and De Wette agree with the LXX in reading wOl instead of al, and connecting it with the preceding verse; but the other versions, as well as the manuscripts, support the received text.
(2) Jerome and Rosenm explain it of the people"s desire to conclude an alliance with Egypt in order to throw off the yoke of Assyria, being frustrated by the superior power of the latter; thus the sense is that they shall not return any more to Egypt, as they had lately done by their ambassadors, to seek help from that land or its people. Then he assigns the reason why they would not again send ambassadors to Egypt for the purpose indicated, because the Assyrian alone would be their king. The objection to this is that lo yashubu must refer to the whole people rather than to their ambassador going to and fro between the countries.
(3) Ewald, Maurer, and others cut the knot by taking lo interrogatively, as if it were halo, and thus equivalent to an affirmative, i.e. Shall they not return to Egypt and the Assyrian be their king?" The expected answer would be in the affirmative. Neither grammar nor context sanctions this interrogative sense.
(4) According to Hitzig, Keil, Simson, and others, we are to understand Egypt in the previous places, viz. Hos_8:13 and Hos_9:3, as received of the land of bondage, where in the present passage the typical sense is inadmissible, owing to the contrast with Assyria. Into Egypt Israel should not return, lest the object of the Exodus might seem frustrated, but a worse lot lay before them another and harder bondage awaited them; the King of Assyria would be their king and reign over them, and all because of their impenitence and refusal to return to Jehovah. The following is the explanation of Kimchi: "They should not have returned to the land of Egypt to seek help; I had already said to them, "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way;" for if they had returned to me, they would not have needed help from Egypt. And against their will Assyria rules over them, and they serve him and send him a present year by year. And why is all this? Because they refused, etc.; as if he said (they refused) to return to me; for if they had returned to me, foreign kings (literally, "kings of the nations") would not have ruled ever them, but they would have ruled over the nations as they had done in the days of David and Solomon, when they did my will; and so have I assured them, "Thou shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. The root of am is cognate with nm, to hold back, refuse; the le strengthens the connection of the objectival infinitive with the governing verb; the ellipsis of ylae is obvious.
Vers. 5-12. The ingratitude of Israel and its punishment.
Both are remarkably manifested in these verses. After all God"s loving-kindness they refuse to turn to God.
I THEIR PERVERSENESS. History repeats itself. This is true ecclesiastically as well as civilly, under the Jewish economy as in the Christian dispensation. Once before, at an early period in Hebrew history and on a remarkable occasion, the Israelites, discouraged by the teachings of the spies, debased by previous servitude, deficient in moral courage, and, worst of all, distrustful of Divine providence, refused to march into Canaan. They murmured against God and against Moses. "Back to Egypt," was their cry. And back they went, not to Egypt, but to wander in the wilderness for eight and thirty years longer, as a justly merited punishment for their unthankfulness and rebellion against God. Similarly on the occasion to which the prophet here refers. They bad grievously sinned against God, yet they fancied they would find refuge in Egypt; they had rebelled and resisted all the means employed to bring them back to God, but they would not return to him. And now they cry, like their forefathers, "To Egypt," as if shelter and safety could be obtained there. But God frustrates their silly, sinful purpose. A worse than the bondage of Egypt awaits them; they were destined to go into captivity to Assyria.
So with stubborn and stout-hearted sinners still. They will go anywhere, or resort to any expedient, even returning to Egypt, rather than return to God. For a time the prodigal would rather be a swineherd, and share the husks on which the swine fed, than return to the abundance of his father"s house. "Some stubborn children care not what miseries they suffer rather than return and humble themselves to their parents;" so some stubborn spirits seem disposed, in their folly and desperation, to return to their former state of bondage and misery rather than repent and submit themselves to God. Let such beware lest, owing to their impatience and impenitence, a worse thing befall them.
II THEIR PUNISHMENT. The three chief scourges by which God chastises a disobedient people are famine, pestilence, and the sword.
1. Of the three, the sword is, perhaps, the worst. At all events David thought it so. When he was called to make choice between seven years of famine, three days" pestilence, and three months" flight before the pursuing sword of the enemy, he preferred falling into the hand of God rather than into the hand of man, choosing the pestilence rather than the sword.
2. And yet the sword also has its commission from God, as we learn from the exclamation of the prophet, "O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still." But it is added, in answer to this inquiry, "How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore? there hath he appointed it.
3. The Prophet Hosea pictures the severity of the stroke either by the wide area which the sword swept over, or the length of time it continued to distress them; also by the fact that the cities which were looked upon as the strong fortresses, at all events the strength of the land, were the main objects of attack. Elsewhere in the fields or open country the ravages of war are not quite so dreadful as in the city with its crowded population, where human beings, densely massed together, are literally mowed down. Nor yet were the villages spared, nor did their bars shut out the enemy.
4. The duty of prayer is incumbent in time of war. This lesson is inculcated by the example of the psalmist. After speaking in the fifty-fifth psalm of having seen violence and strife in the city, while men hurried to and fro upon the walls, with other sad accompaniments of troublous times mischief, sorrow, wickedness, deceit, and guile he announces the course he pursued: "As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and call aloud: and he shall hear my voice;" while peace and deliverance were the happy outcome of his prayers: "He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.
III THEIR PRONENESS TO BACKSLIDE. Proneness to backsliding was not peculiar to the people or the period of Hosea"s prophesyings. The unregenerate heart is invariably the source of backsliding. When a religious profession is influenced only by external motive and not by internal power, men may be expected to backslide. In the days of our Lord it was sorrowfully said of some that they went back and walked no more with Jesus. In seasons of religious revival, of many who make a profession of religion, that profession, in the case of some, proceeds from an outward impulse, certain convictions, or even the power of sympathy, and soon as the time of excitement is over they backslide; their convictions did not ripen into conversion; the root of the matter was never in them. The same is occasionally found in the case of some young communicants. At the first communion, the boy in the freshness of his youth, the girl in the purity of her childhood, feel much ardor of affection and manifest much fervor of devotion; but what from unfavorable surroundings, or evil communications, or little sins unchecked, the love of their espousals grows cold, and backsliding ensues. Even in the case of persons truly converted, a degree of coldness creeps over them; they seem to grow weary of the ways of God; they become apathetic, and backslide for a time. Beware of grieving the Holy Spirit; beware of resisting the strivings and stirrings of conscience; beware of putting the hand to the plough and then turning back or turning aside to folly; in a word, beware of backsliding. Be warned by that solemn Scripture, "If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
IV THE PERPLEXITY CAUSED TO THE ALMIGHTY. With reverence be it spoken, the conduct of Israel seems to have puzzled the all-merciful One himself. Judgment was due, but love holds it in check; the vials of wrath were ready to be poured out, but the voice of mercy intercedes; punishment was well deserved, but the hand of pity pushes it aside. They had been called to the Most High, to acquaint themselves with him, to acknowledge him, and to accept him as their God and King; but they stopped their ears against those calls. They refused to lift themselves up from their low groveling course of conduct, and they refused to exalt the Most High, or to bless that glorious Name which is above all blessing and praise. We cannot exalt God, or make him more glorious than he is, "yet then God accounts himself to be exalted when he is known and acknowledged as the high, supreme, first Being; when we fear him as God; when we humble ourselves before him as before a God; when we are sensible of the infinite distance there is between him and us; when we are willing to consecrate what we are, or have, or can do, to the furtherance of his praise; when his will is made the rule of all our ways, and especially of his worship; when we make him the last end of all; when it is the great care of our souls and work of our lives to do what possibly we can, that he may be magnified and lifted up in the world; and when we account the least sin a greater evil than can be recompensed by all the good which heaven and earth can afford us; when we do thus, God accounts himself exalted by us." But Israel had acted in opposition to all this; hence the controversy, the perplexity, the puzzling questions which follow. Four questions are followed by four answers.
(1) "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?" to which the answer is, "Mine heart is turned within me.
(2) "How shall I deliver thee, Israel?" to which the reply is, My repentings are kindled together.
(3) "How shall I make thee as Admah?" to which the response is, "I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger.
(4) "How shall I set thee as Zeboim?" to which the rejoinder is, "I will not return to destroy Ephraim.
V THE PURPOSE DENOUNCED. He will not execute the fierceness of his wrath, nor return to destroy Ephraim, nor enter into the city. Here we note a remarkable contrast in God"s dealings with us. He compares himself to a man in the exercise of mercy. It is different in regard to the execution of his wrath; then he is God and not man. In expressing his mercy he speaks after the manner of men; in the yearnings of his bowels, in the extent of his mercifulness, he expresses himself as man, though more, infinitely more, than man. But when he speaks of wrath, he assures us he is God and not man. A man of war may, with the soldiers under him, come upon a town or city, capture it, and plunder it; months or years elapse, and he returns to the same place again, lays siege to it, and sacks it, leaving it in a much worse state than at first. But God will not so return to destroy. He is God, not man. Free from all the weakness of human passion, from all vindictiveness of feeling, from all fickleness of purpose, from all the littlenesses of the human spirit, he dens not revoke his purposes nor recall his promises of mercy, neither does he retain his anger for ever, nor renew the outpouring of the vials of his wrath.
1. He is, besides, the Holy One: even in his vindicatory justice he is holy; no unholy element of any kind mingles with his wrath. Holiness is at once an attribute of his nature and a characteristic of all his administrations. Oh, to be holy as God is holy, pure as Christ is pure, perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect! His presence is with his people, according to his promise, "I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people;" nay, more, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them.
2. When, in the close of ver. 9, God says, "I will not enter into the city," it is "to be taken in reference to the manner of God"s proceedings in the destruction of Sodom; after he had done conferring with Abraham, he entered into the city, and destroyed it by fire and brimstone. God many times stands at the gates of a city, ready to enter in and destroy it, but humiliation in prayer and reformation keep him out Oh! let not our sins cause a merciful God to go out, and a provoked God to enter in.
VI THE PREDICTION UTTERED.
1. The walking after the Lord here predicted is to follow the Lord whithersoever he leadeth. The Savior is given fur a Leader to his people; he is represented as the Captain of salvation, and just as a good soldier follows his superior officer at the head of the storming party or in the perilous breach, in the onward march and in the unwelcome but necessary retreat; so the Christian soldier, loyal to his Lord, follows him fully, faithfully, fearlessly, through evil report as well as good report, closely, carefully, and constantly. "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." The path may appear perilous, the way may he difficult; we may have to turn our backs on our dearest delights, on our sweetest comforts; we may be ignorant of the immediate goal to which the Lord leads us, or the use he intends to make of us, or what he means to do with us; yet none of these things shall doter us. If we only make sure that the Lord is leading us, we run no risk in following him; and though he lead us by a way that we know not, we are sure it is the right way, the safe way, and in every respect the best way in the end. The opposite course is that pursued by those who walk, not after the Lord, but after the lusts of their own hearts, or their own inclinations, or their own inventions, or their own counsels, or the example of wicked men.
2. The prediction includes a hasty return in obedience to the Divine summons. God"s calling people to return to him is not inaptly compared to the roaring of a lion. By judgments on the adversary, or by a solemn awe on the spirits of his people, or by terrible things in righteousness, God summons men to submission and obedience.
3. When God speaks the word in whatever way, his children hurry home out of many lands from the far West, the distant East, and the remote South. Thus it is in seasons of revival, thus it shall be more literally in the millennial period, and in the time of the restitution of all things When the Spirit shall be poured out from on high in Pentecostal power and in Pentecostal plenty, men shall, as at the first Pentecost, when they were assembled from many lands, join themselves to God"s people. They shall not only come hastily, but swiftly. Their hasty arrival is compared to a flight resembling that of the dove, which flies swiftly, as implied in the psalmist"s words, "Oh that I had wings like a dove!" They shall, moreover, arrive in great numbers, as doves fly in flocks, as implied in the words of the prophet, "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?
4. A place of rest is promised them. When men walk after the Lord and unite themselves lovingly with his people, they are assured both of rest and refreshment. Whether this may have had a literal fulfillment, in the return of members of the ten tribes from Assyria with their brethren of Judah from Babylon, and others of the same people from Egypt, we do not know for certain; but this much is sure, that such a return of God"s people to him shall actually take place in the day of the restitution of all things; while its figurative application repeats itself in every real revival of religion, when sinners, truly penitent like the prodigal, shall return from many a far country of sin and shame and sorrow to their Father"s house and home, renouncing the swineherd"s husks for that rich spiritual abundance of bread enough and to spare.
VII THE PRETENCES OF ISRAEL. The people of Israel, or the ten tribes with Ephraim at their head, that is, rulers and ruled, are here charged with lies and deceit. Their professions of worship were nothing better than lying pretences; their political schemes were little less than deceitful maneuvers. Their piety and their policy were alike hollow and futile. With such false worship and carefully devised strokes of policy, which were but deceitful tricks, they compassed God as though they could deceive the omniscient One himself. The following illustration from an old divine seems apt, though homely: "I am, in respect of their sins, as a man beset round, who would have egress, but when he goes one way there he is stopped, and another way he is stopped there too. God compares himself to such a man, as if, in going on in the ways of mercy, he is there stopped by some course of sin, and entering on another part he is there stopped again." How many there are whose acts of worship are so many solemn lies! Their professions of piety are mere pretences; their prayers may be eloquent and comprehensive, but they do not proceed from the heart; their presence in the sanctuary is only bodily, their thoughts being away about their worldly business, or reaming over mountains of vanity. Many there are who are ready to acknowledge God, his greatness and glory, his glorious majesty, his almighty power, his infinite wisdom, and his sovereign disposal of all human affairs; but they do not realize the august nature of the Divine attributes, nor the wondrous workings of his providence. Many, too, confess their great sinfulness, and profess deep humiliation on account of it; but their confession is not accompanied by contrition, nor is their professed humiliation either provable by facts or practical in its effects.
Strange, passing strange, it is that men thus impose on themselves, or attempt to deceive God! "They did flatter him with their mouth," says the psalmist, "and they lied unto him with their tongues." And if this is the conduct men venture on in relation to God, how much more likely they are to compass their fellow-men with lies, or overreach them by deceit! If they carry their deceit into the sacred exercises of religion and the solemn services of the sanctuary, how much more may we expect to find fraudulent transactions and deceitful dealings in their intercourse with fellow-men!
VIII THE PRE-EMINENCE OF JUDAH. While Israel or the ten tribes were besetting God with their lies and provoking him by deceit, their worship being idolatrous and their service false, Judah for so far continued in the true worship. With not a few drawbacks and many defects, they had hitherto adhered to the ordinances he had prescribed, the place he had chosen, and the mode and ministers of religion he had appointed. Such is the drift of the verse according to the Authorized Version. Assuming this to be the right rendering, we find Israel left without excuse. They could not plead the example of Judah. If an evil example had been set them by Judah, it might have in some sort extenuated, but could not have excused, sin in Israel. The absence of such example was no small aggravation of their guilt.
1. It redounded to the honor of Judah that in the day of Israel"s defection they persevered in the way of truth, and maintained the true worship of Jehovah. It is recorded to the credit of those Sardians who remained faithful in a corrupt place and a degenerate age, "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
2. When we serve God we reign with him. It is righteousness that exalts a nation and elevates an individual. To serve God is our highest glory, and to enjoy him our greatest happiness. To serve God is the most honorable service; hence our blessed Lord has made us kings as well as priests unto God. Luther, commenting on this verse, speaks of certain errorists "not venturing to embrace the true doctrine for fear their rule should be lost. So is it with many people; they are afraid of the loss of their rule if they should entertain the true ways of God"s worship; they think that the true ways of God"s worship cannot consist with their rule and power, and therefore they had rather retain them and let the true worship of God go.
Vers. 5-7. The Divine goodness despised.
Ephraim had acted as if the mercy of God were unconditional; and he persistently contravened the one condition, via repentance, upon which alone that favor could be continued. He was thus guilty of despising the Divine loving-kindness; and hence these words of grievous denunciation. We learn from them
I THE FOLLY OF CARNAL CONFIDENCES. (Ver. 6) The ten tribes had followed "their own counsels," but these were the result of wicked infatuation. The calves which the men of Israel kissed led to the national ruin. Egypt would afford the tribes no asylum; there was no hope of relief from her as an auxiliary against Assyria. It was indeed strange that the people should think of returning to Egypt, the land of their ancient bondage. Now, however, they are to endure a more dreadful tyranny than their fathers had suffered there. The devouring sword of the Assyrian is to make the round of the cities of Israel. The northern kingdom, with its rich territory and its sacred places Shiloh, Shechem, Ebal and Gerizim, Sharon, Carmel, and the valley of Jezreel is to pass into the possession of the heathen. Such was only the natural result of Israel"s wickedness, and it stands in history as an affecting warning against ungodly counsels. "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord". (Jer_17:5-8) "My brethren, it is a great mercy of God to be so wholly taken from all carnal props, from all vain shifts and hopes, as to be thoroughly convinced that there is no help in any thing, or in any creature, in heaven and earth, but only in turning to God, and casting the soul down before mercy; if that saves me not, I am undone forever" (Jeremiah Burroughs, in loc .).
II THE POWER OF SIN TO HOLD FAST THE SOUL. (Ver. 7) Israel was "bent on backsliding" from Jehovah. They were "fastened to defection" (Calvin); or, "impaled upon apostasy as upon a stake" (Keil). The prophets called " and exhorted the people, but in vain. They refused to raise themselves, in order to return to the Most High. Such is the effect of sin when long persisted in. All of us have by nature this fixed aversion to God and Divine things, unless he interpose in his grace to wean us from our idols. Even while the Word is calling us to rise, the flesh persistently drags us downwards, and with a dead weight which only the might of the Spirit of God can overcome. Many professors of religion suddenly fall away, because, the "good work" never having been begun in them, they cannot restrain themselves from at last following visibly the "bent" of nature. And how hard it is, even for the Lord"s true people, to escape from the entanglement of old habits of sin! During the process the soul may be often convulsed, if not almost torn asunder. A good man will sometimes continue throughout life to follow a trade or profession about the moral lawfulness of which his conscience is continually uneasy. Only by steadfastly looking to Christ, and allowing his love to flow into the heart, can we be set free from the dangers of backsliding. Clothed with his strength, the believer, instead of being "impaled upon apostasy," shall daily "crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts." Once more, this passage reminds us that
III TO "REFUSE TO RETURN" TO JEHOVAH IS THE SIN OF SINS. (Ver. 5) Ephraim had done more and worse than to reject the Lord as the chief good. He had, besides, scorned the Divine grace and mercy which had so long and lovingly "called" him to "return," and promised to heal his backsliding." For such foul and shocking ingratitude the ruin of the northern kingdom was a. righteous retribution. And so now, in these gospel times, the denial of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior is the crowning sin of man. To reject him is to "refuse to return" to Jehovah. It is to oppose the clearest light, and to despise the dearest love. It is to elect to serve Satan rather than God. This sin of sins does not render it necessary that sentence be pronounced against those who are guilty of it: the sinner"s unbelief is of itself his sentence. He that believeth not hath been judged already". (Joh_3:18) If we neglect the great salvation, there can be no escape for us from eternal shame and ruin. Sins against law do not exclude the possibility of the exercise of mercy, but the persistent rejection of mercy must close the door of hope against the soul forever. C.J. (Pro_1:24-33)
Vers. 5-7. Fatal courses.
So the wise man teaches, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death". (Pro_16:25) We have here
I ISRAEL"S BANE. They insisted on thinking their own way better than God"s. This is brought out in the different expressions: "They refused to return" (ver. 5); "Because of their own counsels" (ver. 6); My people are bent on backsliding from me" (ver. 7); "None at all would exalt him" (or exalt themselves, raise themselves up to God). They were in error, but they would not be persuaded of it. They were hugging a delusion, but they clung to it as wisdom. They thought their own way right, and the way which the prophets pointed out to them silly, stupid, contemptible. This is the folly of the sinner. He sets himself up as wiser than God. He snaps his fingers at those who call him to the Most High (ver. 7). The folly of his way might seem self-evident, but, unwarned by the lessons of the past, he sounds its praises as if reason and experience were entirely on his side.
II ISRAEL"S PUNISHMENT. The roads of sin, unhappily, lead to destruction, whether those who walk in them are persuaded of the fact or not. So Israel found it. Their own counsels, which they preferred to God"s, cost them:
1. Relegation to bondage. (Ver. 5) The freedom God had bestowed upon them (ver. 1) he would again deprive them of. Their destination, however, would not be the literal Egypt, but Assyria. The principles of God"s moral administration abide, but they seldom embody themselves in precisely the same outward forms.
2. A whirling sword. (Ver. 6) The sword would whirl and devour till it had devastated the whole kingdom. A type of the more terrible wrath that will consume the sinner. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Hos_11:5. Shall not] An apparent contradiction to Hos_8:13; Hos_9:3;…
CRITICAL NOTES.
Hos_11:5. Shall not] An apparent contradiction to Hos_8:13; Hos_9:3; but Egypt there is a type of bondage, here the hope of relief against Assyria. They would no longer go to Egypt for help, but be taken captive to Assyria.
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Hos_11:6. Abide] Lit. to whirl round, turn in a circle, indicating the violence and extent of punishment, often the sense of falling and staying until the mission is fulfilled (Jer_23:19; Jer_30:23; Lam_4:6; 2Sa_3:29). Branches] Some, villages which are branches, dependencies upon cities; mighty men, others. Baddim] Sig. poles (Exo_25:13), made of branches, firmness derived from being woven together; bars or bolts by which gates were fastened together (Job_17:16).
HOMILETICS
THE SHORT-SIGHTED POLICY OF SINNERS.—Hos_11:5-6
Israel were rebelling against Assyria, and looking to Egypt for help. They had forsaken God and desired to escape his judgments. But they should have what they did not wish, and be deprived of what they sought to have. There was no refuge nor retiring place; Assyria would take them captive, and the sword would perpetually rest on their cities and people. This punishment would be the result of their own short-sighted policy.
I. In refusing Divine and following their own counsels. “They refused to return” to God and his ways, and were defeated by adopting their own plans. God’s counsel is continually given to guide and correct us, and to reject this counsel is folly in the extreme.
1. It is the only safe counsel. Human guides may err. The wisest only guess. We require certainty and security. Many stumble, but in God “shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.”
2. It is the only firm counsel. Man’s instructions change, and his purpose can be frustrated. He may adjust circumstances and take precautions, yet not escape. God has knowledge to foresee and power to overcome opposition. “The counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.”
3. It is the only rational counsel. It is the only probable way to succeed according to our desire. The wisdom of the fool is conceit and self-delusion. He wanders into danger, and wrongs his own soul. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.”
II. In bringing destruction upon them when they expected safety. They were trusting to Egypt, and depending upon their mighty men and fortified cities, but the sword would devour them.
1. The destruction was violent. The sword fell, whirled down upon them in all its weight, like “a whirlwind of the Lord gone forth in fury, a grievous whirlwind which fell grievously upon the head of the wicked” (Jer_23:19).
2. The destruction was extensive. It “shall abide on his cities and shall consume his branches, and devour them” like flames of fire. Whether branches mean mighty men, villages, or bars of the cities, it is all one. Power could not defend the mighty, and defenced places were levelled to the ground. Princes and people, storehouses of wealth and palaces of splendour, fall through the sins of the nation.
3. The destruction was lasting. The sword abode upon them as long as they continued their rebellion against God. Israel’s kings were inaugurated by blood, and by God’s appointment they should reap just retribution. “Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house.”
III. In rushing into the bondage from which they seek to escape. They sought to avoid Assyria by flying to Egypt, but this was the very means to bring them into bondage. We cannot escape God’s presence, nor shun the consequences of broken law. What appears the nearest refuge is often the remotest hope and the swiftest punishment. Persons to whom we fly for help are often the weakest to defend, and rushing from one danger the surest way to fall into another. Men fall by their own counsel and are taken in their own craftiness. They mistake if they think to avoid the judgments of God by cunning artifice and deceit, to promote their true interests by refusing to follow Divine counsel (Job_5:13; Job_18:7). “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11
Hos_11:5-6. Shall consume. Guilt and punishment are bound together. One should act as a warning to the other. The threat of punishment is a merciful declaration to some, though a terror to others. If there are rocks and shoals in the ocean of life, it is not cruelty to chart them down; it is an eminent and great mercy [Beecher].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh is speaking about Israel.
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Will they not return to the land of Egypt?
This question means that the nation of Israel will once again be slaves as they were in Egypt. (See: Rhetorical Question)
Will Assyria not rule over them because they refuse to return to me?
The nation of Israel will be captives of Assyria as a result of their refusal to remain faithful to Yahweh. (See: Rhetorical Question)
The sword will fall on their cities
Here "sword" represents the enemies of Israel who will destroy Israel's cities. (See: Metonymy)
destroy the bars of their gates
Gates offered security to city inhabitants from their enemies, and the bars secured the closed gates. To destroy the bars meant to take away the people's security. (See: Metonymy)
Though they call to the Most High
Here God is speaking about himself in the third person. It can be stated in first person. AT: "Though they call to me, the Most High" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
no one will help them
Yahweh will not allow anyone to help Israel because they turned away from him.
translationWords
Egypt
Assyria
rule
gate
people of God
turn
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 11:5-7 Because the Israelites had refused to return to…
11:5-7 Because the Israelites had refused to return to the Lord, they would return to Egypt and . . . serve Assyria. Their past bondage in Egypt was a symbol for their coming exile in Assyria.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.