11 If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.
12 Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.
13 By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.
14 Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger. Therefore his blood will be left on him, and his Lord will repay his contempt.
KJVKing James Version
11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
11 (12-12) If Gilead be given to iniquity becoming altogether vanity, in Gilgal they sacrifice unto bullocks; yea, their altars shall be as heaps in the furrows of the field.
12 (12-13) And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
13 (12-14) And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he kept.
14 (12-15) Ephraim hath provoked most bitterly; therefore shall his blood be cast upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
Acts 3:22-23(v13)For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to…
Exodus 12:50-51(v13)All the children of Israel did so. As Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. That same day, Yahweh brought the children of Israel…
Psalms 77:20(v13)You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Isaiah 63:11-14(v13)Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his…
Ezekiel 18:13(v14)has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He…
Show all 41 cross-references
Hosea 4:15(v11)“Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As…
Hosea 6:8(v11)Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.
Hosea 8:11(v11)Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they became for him altars for sinning.
Acts 7:35-37(v13)“This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of…
Exodus 13:3(v13)Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yahweh…
Daniel 11:18(v14)After this he will turn his face to the islands, and will take many; but a prince will cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Yes,…
Hosea 9:15(v11)“All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! I…
Genesis 29:18-28(v12)Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.” Laban said, “It is better that I give her to…
Genesis 31:41(v12)These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you…
2 Kings 17:7-18(v14)It was so because the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the…
Hosea 10:1(v11)Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has…
Amos 2:11-12(v13)I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says…
Micah 6:4(v13)For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
Genesis 27:43(v12)Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
Genesis 28:1-22(v12)Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the…
Deuteronomy 28:37(v14)You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away.
1 Samuel 2:30(v14)“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But…
1 Samuel 12:8(v13)“When Jacob had come into Egypt, and your fathers cried to Yahweh, then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt,…
2 Samuel 1:16(v14)David said to him, “Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain Yahweh’s anointed.’ ”
1 Kings 2:33-34(v14)So their blood will return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house,…
1 Kings 17:1(v11)Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there…
2 Kings 17:9-11(v11)The children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against Yahweh their God; and they built high places for themselves in all…
Jeremiah 2:20(v11)“For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree…
Jeremiah 2:28(v11)“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for you have…
Jeremiah 10:8(v11)But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.
Jeremiah 10:15(v11)They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
Ezekiel 23:2-10(v14)“Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their…
Ezekiel 24:7-8(v14)“ ‘ “For her blood is in the middle of her. She set it on the bare rock. She didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. That it…
Hosea 7:16(v14)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…
Hosea 13:4-5(v13)“Yet I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no savior. I knew you in…
Amos 4:4(v11)“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
Amos 5:5(v11)but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come…
Jonah 2:8(v11)Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Genesis 32:27-28(v12)He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”. He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought…
Deuteronomy 26:5(v12)You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in…
Ezekiel 33:5(v14)He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv11–14It is an ironical question, when the Prophet says,…
It is an ironical question, when the Prophet says, Is there iniquity in Gilead? and he laughs to scorn their madness who delighted themselves in vices so gross, when their worship was wholly spurious and degenerated. When they knew that they were perfidious towards God, and followed a worship alienated from his law, they yet were so perverse, that they proudly refused all admonitions. Since then they were blinded in their vices, the Prophet asks them ironically, Is there iniquity in Gilead? They are as yet doubtful, forsooth, whether they are guilty before God, whether they bear any blame. Surely, he says, they are vanity; that is, “How much soever they may seek specious pretences for themselves, and deny that they are conscious of doing wrong, and also introduce many reasons for doubt, that they may not be forced to own their sin, they yet, he says, are guilty of falsehood; all their glosses contain nothing solid, but they are mere disguises, which avail nothing before God.” We now then apprehend the meaning of the Prophet.
But there is no doubt but that he also condemns here their perverted worship, by which the Israelites at the same time thought that they rendered the best service to God. But obedience, we know, is better than all sacrifices. The Prophet then inveighs here against all fictitious modes of worship, devised without God against the authority of God’s law. But at the same time, as we have just hinted, he indirectly exposes their thoughtlessness for imagining themselves excusable, provided they set up their own good intention, as it is commonly done, and say, that they built altars with no other design than to make known everywhere the name of God, to preserve among themselves some tokens of religion. Since, then, they thus raised up a cloud of smoke to cover their impiety, the Prophet says, “They indeed still inquire, as of a doubtful thing, whether there is iniquity in Gilead; let them inquire and dispute; surely,” he says, “they are vain;” literally, surely they have been falsehood: but he means that they foolishly brought forward those frivolous excuses, by which they tried to escape the crime and its punishment. How was it that they were vain? Because God values his own law more than all the glosses of men, and he will have all men to obey, without dispute, his own word: but when they thus licentiously depart from his commandments, it is what he cannot endure. They are then false and deceive themselves, who think that their own inventions are of any value before God. He then lays down their crimes
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In Gilgal, he says, have they sacrificed oxen Jerome translates, “They sacrifice to oxen,” and thinks that the Israelites are reprehended here for sacrificing to the calves: but this seems too remote from the words of the Prophet. The Prophet then mentions their sin — that they sacrificed oxen and multiplied altars. And yet it seemed to be a diligence worthy of praise, that they increased many altars, that they worshipped God everywhere, that they spared neither expense nor labour, that they were not content with few sacrifices, but added a great number; — all this seemed to deserve no common praise: but the Lord, as it has been already said, valued not these corrupt practices; for he would have himself to be alone worshipped by his people, and would have their piety to be attested by this single evidence — their obedience to his word. When we then turn aside from God’s word, nay, when we with loose reins abandon ourselves to new inventions, though we may plausibly profess that our object is to worship God, yet all this is a vain and fallacious pretence, as the Prophet here declares.
Jerome is mistaken in thinking that Gilgal was a town in the tribe of Judah; and the supposition cannot suit this place: for Judah, we know, was then free from those gross pollutions; Judah was not as yet polluted with the defilements which the Prophet here condemns in the kingdom of Israel. It is then certain, that Gilgal was a town of Israel; and we know that a celebrated temple and altar were there: hence he especially points out this place.
But he afterwards adds, Their altars are as heaps on the furrows of the field There was then we know, only one legitimate altar; and God would not have sacrifices offered to him, except in one place. Hence the more active the Israelites were in multiplying altars, the more they provoked the vengeance of God: how much soever it was their purpose to worship God, yet God spurned that foolish affectedness. We then see why the Prophet here compares the altars then erected in the kingdom of Israel to heaps of stones; as though he said “As one gathers stones into a heap, when the land is stony, that he may drive his plough more easily, so every one forms an altar for himself, as though he were raising up a hillock in his own field: thus it comes, that they perversely corrupt the pure and lawful worship which I have appointed.” We now then understand the meaning of the Prophet to be, that superstitious men gain nothing, when they boldly and openly boast that they worship God; for whatever disguise they may invent for themselves and others, the Lord yet abominates every thing that is contrary to his word: and our mode Of worshipping God is alone true and lawful, when we only follow what he prescribes, and allow to ourselves nothing but what is according to his command and appointment. This is the meaning. Let us proceed —
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 translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv11–13The people thought that no man durst have spoken…
The people thought that no man durst have spoken against Gilead, that holy place, and yet the Prophet saith, that all their religion was but vanity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Hos 12:11 [Is there] iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they…
Hos 12:11 [Is there] iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars [are] as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
Ver. 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead] What, in Gilead, a city of priests? {Hos 6:8} {See Trapp on "Hos 6:8"} yea, Gilead is a city of those that work iniquity, a very Poneropolis, a place of naughty packs, Hos 4:15. Now there is not a worse creature on earth than a wicked priest, nor a worse place than a wicked Gilead. The Hebrew hath it thus, Is Gilead iniquity? Or as Luther, Drusius, and others, Surely it is so ( אם certe, vere, profecto). Confer Mic 1:5. Gregory Nazianzen reports of Athens, that it was the plaguiest place in the world for superstition. Our universities were so in times of Popery, and began to be so again a few years since. Revera Gilead est iniquitas, profecto vanitas sunt, they were grown so incorrigibly flagitious that they seemed to be, as it were, transformed into sin’s image. Some render the text thus: "Is there iniquity in Gilead? Are they only vanity in Gilgal? They sacrificed bullocks," and set this sense upon it. What? think you the men of Gilead, those beyond the river of Jordan, whom Tiglathpileser spoiled and led captives, that they only were guilty of idolatry, and you not, because you remain at home, untouched of the Assyrian? Nay, saith he, the very entrance into the country, Gilgal itself, so aboundeth with idolatry, that it is not to be doubted but in the rest of the parts of the kingdom their altars are as thick as furrows in the field, that is to say, innumerable. Some think this last clause, "their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field" (or of my fields, whereof I am chief Lord, and wherein he should have served me, and not idols), hath reference to some superstitious way of theirs, of seeking God by erecting altars in the furrows, for the fructifying of their fields: the heathen did so to their Dii Terminales; boundary gods, and the Papists still do so in their solemn processions, erecting crosses and crucifixes in the bounds of their fields, and thereby thinking to get a blessing on their corn and pastures. Tarnovius noteth here, that God in the Old Testament would therefore have but one altar whereon to offer sacrifice, and that to be at Jerusalem only; to teach them that Christ, the anti-type of all their sacrifices, should once be offered up upon the altar of his cross, a propitiation for their sins, Heb 9:1-28; Heb 10:1-39. This altar he also appointed to be in the temple, that the sacrificers might believe the gracious presence of God with them, and might worship him in spirit and in truth.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Is there iniquity in Gilead? in this concise interrogatory…
Is there iniquity in Gilead? in this concise interrogatory the prophet warns the refractory, ungodly Israelites by an example of God’s wrath on them. About A.M. 326.1, at Ahaz’s request and charges, Tiglath-pileser came up against Israel, and took Gilead among other towns, leading the inhabitants captives, 2Ki 15:29; now some sixteen or seventeen years after doth our prophet mind the sinful and secure Ephraimites what they must expect, and doth it in this pungent question,
Is there iniquity in Gilead? i.e. is there only? or is there more? much like that of Christ’s, Luk 13:2,
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Suppose ye them greater sinners? Be it so, captive Gilead was all iniquity, and Gilgal is no better. They that come up to Gilgal to sacrifice are idolaters, they sin against God in offering to them, and against their own welfare in trusting to them, both ways they appear to be vanity; whilst they multiply these altars and sacrifices, they multiply their sins, God’s displeasure is increased, and the danger more near and dreadful.
Their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields: idolatrous Israel, thou aboundest in altars; but if they are for number like heaps of stones, gathered out of ploughed land and laid in furrows, they are as common too, i.e. as far from sacred, as far from commending any offering to God, or stoning his displeasure. And canst thou, Ephraim, hope to escape, whose sins exceed the sins of captive Gilead? wilt thou never be wise, never warned, never repent?
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Is there iniquity in Gilead?.... Idolatry there? strange that…
Is there iniquity in Gilead?.... Idolatry there? strange that there should be, seeing it was a city of the priests; a city of refuge; or there is none there, say the priests, who pretended they did not worship idols, but the true Jehovah in them: or, "is there not iniquity", or idolatry, "in Gilead" (e)? verily there is, let them pretend to what they will: or, "is there only iniquity in it" (f)? that the men of it should be carried captive, as they were by TiglathPileser, before the rest of the tribes; see Kg2 15:29; no, there is iniquity and idolatry committed in other places, as well as there, who must expect to share the same fate in time: or, "is Gilead Aven?" (g) that is, Bethaven, the same with Bethel; it is as that, as guilty of idolatry as Bethel, where one of the calves was set up:
surely they are vanity: the inhabitants of Gilead, as well as of Bethel, worshipping idols, which are most vain things, vanity itself, and deceive those that serve them, and trust in them:
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they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal: to idols, as the Targum adds; and so Jarchi and Kimchi; according to Aben Ezra, they sacrificed them to Baal; this shows that Gilead was not the only place for idolatry, which was on the other side Jordan, but Gilgal, which was on this side Jordan, was also polluted with it. The Vulgate Latin version is,
"in Gilgal they were sacrificing to bullocks;''
to the calves there, the same as were at Dan and Bethel; so, in the Septuagint version of Kg1 12:29; it was formerly read: and so Cyril (h) quotes it, "he (Jeroboam) set the one (calf) in Gilgal, and the other in Dan"; hence the fable that Epiphanius (i) makes mention of, that, when Elisha was born, the golden ox or heifer at Gilgal bellowed very loudly, and so loud as to be heard at Jerusalem. The Targum makes mention of an idol temple here; and as it was near to Bethel, as appears from Sa1 10:3; and from Josephus (k); and so Jerom says (l), hard by Bethel; some suspect another Gilgal; hence it might be put for it; however, it was a place of like idolatrous worship; it is mentioned as such along with Bethaven or Bethel, in Hos 4:15; see also Hos 9:15;
yea, their altars are as heaps in, the furrows of the fields; not only in the city of Gilgal, and in the temple there, as the Targum; but even without the city, in the fields they set up altars, which looked like heaps of stones; or they had a multitude of altars that stood as thick as they. So the Targum,
"they have multiplied their altars, like heaps upon the borders of the fields;''
and the Jewish commentators in general understand this as expressive of the number of their altars, and of the increase of idolatrous worship; but some interpret it of the destruction of their altars, which should become heaps of stones and rubbish, like such as are in fields. These words respect Ephraim or the ten tribes, in which these places were, whose idolatry is again taken notice of, after gracious promises were made to Judah. Some begin here a new sermon or discourse delivered to Israel.
(e) "an non in Galaad iniquitas?" Vatablus. (f) "En in Gileade tantum iniquitas?" Piscator. (g) "Num Gilead Aven?" Schmidt. (h) Apud Reland. Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. l. 3. p. 783. (i) De Vita & Interitu Prophet. c. 6. & Paschal. Chronic. p. 161. apud Reland. ib. (k) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect. 9. (l) De locis Hebr. fol. 91. M.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv11–14In Gilead - Tiglah Pileser had formerly took Gilead…
In Gilead - Tiglah Pileser had formerly took Gilead among other towns, leading the inhabitants captive. By this the prophet minds the Ephraimites what they must expect, and doth it in this pungent question, Is there iniquity in Gilead? Is it there only? Be it, Gilead was all iniquity; Gilgal is no better. They - They that come up to Gilgal to sacrifice, are idolaters. In the furrows - They are for number like heaps of stones, gathered out of plowed land and laid in furrows.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Verse 11. Iniquity in Gilead] Gilgal and Gilead are…
Verse 11. Iniquity in Gilead] Gilgal and Gilead are equally iniquitous, and equally idolatrous. Gilead, which was beyond Jordan, had already been brought under subjection by Tiglath-Pileser. Gilgal, which was on this side Jordan, shall share the same fate; because it is now as idolatrous as the other.
Their altars are as heaps] They occur everywhere. The whole land is given to idolatry.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv11, 14Hos 12:11-13. Is there iniquity in Gilead? — Or,…
Hos 12:11-13. Is there iniquity in Gilead? — Or, Was there idolatry in Gilead? as the word אוןoften signifies. Surely they are vanity, &c., in Gilgal — The tribes settled about Gilead beyond Jordan, were already captivated by Tiglath-pileser. And God declares here by the prophet, that the idolatry still practised in Gilgal was equally abominable, and would bring down similar judgments upon the remaining tribes on the west of Jordan. Yea, their altars are as heaps — Notwithstanding this judgment of God upon Gilead, they continue to offer sacrifices to their idols in Gilgal; and their altars stand so thick, that they are discernible as stones gathered up, and laid in heaps in the fields. Some understand the sentence as containing a threatening that their altars should be demolished, and become so many ruinous heaps, 2Ki 19:25. But Jacob fled into the country of Syria, &c. — “So opposite to yours was the conduct of your father Jacob, that he fled into Syria to avoid an alliance with any of the idolatrous families of Canaan; and, in firm reliance on God’s promises, submitted to the greatest hardships.” And therefore by a prophet, &c. — “And, in reward of his faith, God did such great things for his posterity, bringing them out of the land of Egypt, and leading them through the wilderness like sheep by the hand of his servant Moses.” — Horsley.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Is there iniquity in Gilead? - The prophet asks…
Is there iniquity in Gilead? - The prophet asks the question, in order to answer it the more peremptorily. He raises the doubt, in order to crush it the more impressively. Is there “iniquity” in “Gilead?” Alas, there was nothing else. “Surely they are vanity,” or, strictly, “they have become merely vanity.” As he said before, “they become abominations like their love.” “For such as men make their idols, or conceive their God to be, such they become themselves. As then he who worships God with a pure heart, is made like unto God, so they who worship stocks and stones, or who make passions and lusts their idols, lose the mind of men and become ‘like the beasts which perish.’” “In Gilgal they have sacrificed oxen. Gilead” represents all the country on its side, the East of Jordan; “Gilgal,” all on its side, the West of Jordan. In both, God had signally shown forth His mercies; in both, they dishonored God, sacrificing to idols, and offering His creatures, as a gift to devils.
Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field - Their altars are like the heaps of stones, from which men clear the plowed land, in order to fit it for cultivation, as numerous as profuse, as worthless, as desolate. “Their” altars they were, not God’s. They did, (as sinners do,) in the service of devils, what, had they done it to God, would have been accepted, rewarded, service. Full often they sacrificed oxen; they threw great state into their religion; they omitted nothing which should shed around it an empty show of worship. They multiplied their altars, their sins, their ruins; many altars over against His one altar; : “rude heaps of stones, in His sight; and such they should become, no one stone being left in order upon another.” In contrast with their sins and ingratitude, the prophet exhibits two pictures, the one, of the virtues of the patriarch whose name they bore, from whom was the beginning of their race; the other, of God’s love to them, in that beginning of their national existence, when God brought those who had been a body of slaves in Egypt, to be His own people.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Idol. That is, if Galaad, with all its idols…
Idol. That is, if Galaad, with all its idols and sacrifices, be like a mere idol itself, being brought to nothing by Theglathphalassar, how vain is it to expect that the idols worshipped in Galgal shall be of any service to the tribes that remain. (Challoner) --- Will these idols be more powerful? Septuagint copies vary. Roman edition has Galaad, and Complutensian Galgal in both places. But that of St. Jerome and of Theodoret is better. --- Heaps of stones. They are in ruins, or very numerous: (Calmet) yet have not secured the country. (Haydock)
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 Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Is there iniquity in Gilead?--He asks the question, not…
Is there iniquity in Gilead?--He asks the question, not as if the answer was doubtful, but to strengthen the affirmation: "Surely they are vanity"; or as MAURER translates, "They are nothing but iniquity." Iniquity, especially idolatry, in Scripture is often termed "vanity." Pro 13:11 : "Wealth gotten by vanity," that is, iniquity. Isa 41:29 : "They are all vanity . . . images." "Gilead" refers to Mizpah-gilead, a city representing the region beyond Jordan (Hos 6:8; Jdg 11:29); as "Gilgal," the region on this side of Jordan (Hos 4:15). In all quarters alike they are utterly vile.
their altars are as heaps in the furrows--that is, as numerous as such heaps: namely, the heaps of stones cleared out of a stony field. An appropriate image, as at a distance they look like altars (compare Hos 10:1, Hos 10:4; Hos 8:11). As the third member in the parallelism answers to the first, "Gilgal" to "Gilead," so the fourth to the second, "altars" to "vanity." The word "heaps" alludes to the name "Gilgal," meaning "a heap of stones." The very scene of the general circumcision of the people, and of the solemn passover kept after crossing Jordan, is now the stronghold of Israel's idolatry.
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v1414. Surely Jehovah was justified in expecting gratitude; but…
14. Surely Jehovah was justified in expecting gratitude; but he was disappointed.
Ephraim — Israel (13).
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Provoked… to anger — By its lack of gratitude and open rebellion. The anger of Jehovah is one phase of his holiness, which manifests itself in intense love for everything that is pure and good and in intense hatred for everything that is impure and bad.
Blood — Bloodguiltiness (G.-K., 124n).
Shall he leave — R.V., “shall… be left.” The Hebrew verb is even stronger, “shall be thrust upon him.”
Under no consideration will it be removed, and being left upon the criminal it will surely bring punishment.
His reproach — Or, insult; the dishonor heaped upon Jehovah by the sin and rebellion of Ephraim (Isa_65:7).
Unto him — Ephraim “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv11–1411. The ruin of two famous centres of idolatry,…
11. The ruin of two famous centres of idolatry, representing together the entire northern kingdom.
Is there iniquity, &c.] More probably, If Gilead is (given to) idolatry, mere vanity shall they (the Gileadites) become, i.e. apostacy from Him who is the only source of life leads to sure destruction; ‘they that make the idols become like unto them.’ The town of Gilead has already been singled out for reprobation in Hos_6:8-9. For the historical fulfilment of the prophecy, see 2Ki_15:29—‘in the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and took … Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria’ (compare Tiglath-Pileser’s own account of his expedition against Philistia in b.c. 734; G. Smith, Eponym Canon, p. 123, Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, on 2Ki_15:29).
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they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal] Or, as it might well be stated in the margin, ‘in Heap-town’ (see next note). They affront Jehovah by sacrificing at idolatrous shrines, especially at Gilgal (see on Hos_4:15). So the Targum. Others, by a slight emendation, ‘they sacrifice to the bullocks in Gilgal’, i.e. to the steer-gods; but there is no parallel for such a use of the word ‘bullocks.’ St Jerome’s ‘bobus immolantes’ is an ungrammatical rendering of our present text (see his note).
yea, their altars are as heaps, &c.] Rather, so then their altars shall he as stone-heaps, i.e. like heaps of stones which a careful husbandman has gathered out of his ploughed field (comp. Mic_1:6). The idiom employed (lit., ‘also their altars’ &c.) indicates the correspondence between cause and effect, a sin and its retribution (comp. Isa_66:3 b, 4a); the tense is the prophetic perfect. There is a paronomasia in Gilgal (as if ‘Heap-town’, comp. Jos_4:20), and gallim (‘heaps’); the very name of Gilgal seems to suggest its impending fate. Some think the name ‘Gilead’ is also included in the paronomasia, but in spite of the apparent support of Gen_31:47-48, this is not the more natural view of Hosea’s language. At most, there is a play upon the similarity of sound in Gilead and Gilgal; not upon any supposed similarity of meaning.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv11–14(11) Translate, If Gilead be worthless, surely they have…
(11) Translate, If Gilead be worthless, surely they have become nought. In Gilgal they sacrificed bullocks; their altars also are like heaps upon the field’s furrows, referring to a past event, the desolating invasion of Gilead by Tiglath-pileser, in 734 B.C. To this military expedition we have undoubted references in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser II. But unfortunately they are in a very mutilated condition. From one passage we learn:—“The city Gil [ead] and [A] bel [Maacha] which is on this side the land Beth Omri (Samaria) the distant . . . I joined in its whole extent to the territory of Assyria.” The biblical passage, 2Ki_15:29, supplements this account by stating that Napntali and Galilee also fell victims to the victorious arms of the invader. From the verse before us we infer that Gilgal, on the western bank of the Jordan near Jericho (see Note on 4:15), likewise felt the heavy hand of the conqueror, or perhaps the inhabitants fled in panic and the local shrines became deserted ruins. From this time forth we hear no more of Gilgal as a religious centre. Nowack, however, follows Ewald in regarding the passage as prophetic of a coming calamity. (See Introduction.) In the word for “heaps” (gallîm) there is a play on the name Gilgal.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv11–14Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity.…
Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity. In reference to hypotheticals, Driver remarks, "With an imperfect in protasis. The apodosis may then begin
(a) hath vav con. and the perfect;
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(b) with the infinitive (without ray);
(c) with perfect alone (expressing the certainty and suddenness with which the result immediately accomplishes the occurrence of the promise. Hos_12:12 (wyh in apodesis, "of the certain future")." The first part of this clause has been variously rendered. Some take
(a) affirmatively, in the sense of certainly, assuredly; others translate it
(b) interrogatively, as in the Authorized Version, though even thus it would be more accurately rendered: Is Gilead iniquity of Pusey, following the common version, explains it as follows: "The prophet asks the question in order to answer it more peremptorily. He raises the doubt in order to crush it the more impressively." Is there iniquity in Gilead? "Alas I there was nothing else. Surely they are vanity; or, strictly, they have become merely vanity." There does not appear, however, sufficient reason for departing from the ordinary meaning of the word,
(c) namely, if thus, If Gilead, iniquity (worthlessness), surely they have become vanity. The clause thus rendered may denote one of two things either
(a) moral worthlessness followed by physical nothingness, that is, moral decay followed by physical sin succeeded by suffering; or
(b) progress in moral corruption. To the former exposition corresponds the comment of Kimchi, as follows: Gilead began to work vanity (nothingness)," for they began to do wickedness first, and they have been first carried into captivity. v can connect itself with what precedes, so that its meaning is about Gilead which he has mentioned, and the sense would be repeated in different words. Or its sense shall be in connection with Gilgal. And although zakeph is on the word wyh, all the accents of the inter. prefers do not follow after the accents of the points." Similarly Rashi: "If disaster and oppression come upon them (the Gileadites) they have caused it to themselves, for certainly they are worthlessness, and sacrifies bullocks to idols in Gilgal. The verb Wyh is a prophetic perfect implying the certainty of the prediction, as though already an accomplished fact." The exposition of Aben Ezra favors (b); thus: "If the Gileadites, before I sent prophets to them, were worthlessness, surely they have become vanity, that is, instead of being morally better, they have become worse." To this exposition we find a parallel in Jer_2:5, "They have walked after vanity, and are become vain." They sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal. for like from jwOj. The inhabitants of Gilgal on the west were no better than the Gileadites on the east of Jordan; the whole kingdom, in fact, was overrun with idolatry. The sin of the people of Gilgal did not consist in the animals offered, but in the unlawfulness of the place of sacrifice. The punishment of both Gilgal and Gilead is denounced in the following part of the verse. Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. Gilead signified" heap of witnesses," and Gilgal "heaping heap. The latter was mentioned in Hos_4:15 and Hos_9:15 as a notable center of idol-worship ("all their wickedness is in Gilgal") and retained, as we learn from the present passage, its notoriety for unlawful sacrifices, sacrifices customarily and continually offered (viz. iterative sense of Piel); the former was signalized in Hos_6:8 as "a city of them that work iniquity," and "polluted with blood." The altars in both places are to be turned into stone-heaps; this is expressed by a play on words so frequent in Hebrew; at Gilead as well as Gilgal they are to become gallim, or heaps of stones, such as husbandmen gather off ploughed and leave in useless heaps for the greater convenience of removal, (related to toll, a hill, that which is thrown up) is a furrow as formed by casting up or tearing into. The ruinous heaps of the altars implied, not only their destruction, but the desolation of the country. The altars would become dilapidated heaps, and the country depopulated. The Hebrew interpreters, however, connect with the heap-like altars the idea of number and conspicuousness: this they make prominent as indicating the gross idolatry of the people. Thus Rabbi: "Their altars are numerous as heaps in the furrows of the field. y yt is the furrow of the plougher, called telem;" Aben Ezra: "ynk is by way of figure, because they were numerous and conspicuous." Pococke combines with the idea of number that of ruinous heaps heaps of stones, in his sight; and such they should become, no one stone being left in order upon another." Kimchi"s comment on the verse is the following: "The children of Gilgal were neighbors to the land of Gilead, only the Jordan was between them; they learnt also their ways (doings), and began to serve idols like them, and to practice iniquity and vanity, and sacrificed oxen to strange gods in the place where they had raised an altar to Jehovah the blessed, and where they had set up the tabernacle at the first after they had passed over Jordan: there also they sacrificed oxen to their idols. Not enough that they made an altar in Gilgal to idols, but they also built outside the city altars many and conspicuous, like heaps of stones on the furrows of the field.
Vers. 11-14. Reproofs and remembrancers.
Reproofs for sin, and remembrancers of mercy.
I REBUKES FOR SIN.
1. The richest temporal blessings are blighted by sin. Gilead was a fruitful and pleasant region, as may be inferred from references to it in Scripture, as when God says, "Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness," and when its productions are spoken of, and its pasturages celebrated. It is still a beautiful district, with its hills and dales, wooded slopes, luxuriant pastures, lovely flowers, and refreshing streamlets. In addition to the natural advantages of the country, there was the city of Gilead, where the ministers of religion on the other side of Jordan dwelt. But sin sadly marred this fair and fertile land; so with many a region "where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile." The inhabitants are branded as transgressors of both tables of the Divine Law; iniquity character-fled their conduct towards man, and idolatry their worship of God; while the priests, instead of hindering, only helped the people in their sinful service. However incredible it might appear, nevertheless it was a fact; nor were they improving at the time to which the prophet refers nay, they seem to have been going from bad to worse.
2. The vanity of will-worship. Will-worship may show much zeal, as appears to have been the case with the Gileadites; yet, without a Divine warrant, it is vanity all the same. They contravened the institution of the Most High, which had appointed one temple, one altar, and one priesthood. Severely, too, had they suffered for their sins. Inhabiting a border-land, they were exposed to the inroads arid attacks of enemies, and much needed the Divine protection; but by their sins had forfeited that protection. Consequently they "were threshed," as a contemporary prophet tells us, "with threshing instruments of iron," and, being among the first that fell under the power of Assyria, they were carried away captive from their goodly, pleasant land.
3. Superstition no substitute for spiritual service. Nearness to God in outward relation or profession may coexist with absence of right religious principle; and where such is the case, outward observances neither secure from sin nor shield from its punishment. Thus the people el Gilgal, though west of the Jordan and belonging to Judah, were nearer the temple, and so nearer in outward relation to its worship, yet were quite as bad as the trans-Jordanic Gileadites. They had the externals of religion, and were no doubt zealous about them; they presented rich sacrifices and possessed numerous altars; but the altars they had set up were either to strange gods in opposition to the true God, or to the true God in opposition to his own appointment. "Whosoever they be, this side or the other, who profess to come nearest, if they mingle their own inventions in worship, God will be more sorely displeased with them: the more piety and holiness, the more we profess to come close to the Word of God, and yet withal mingle our own inventions, the more is God displeased; Gilgal offends more than Gilead.
II REMEMBRANCERS OF MERCY. They magnified their ancestor Jacob, but misread his history; they gloried in his greatness, but forsook the God who made him great. It is a common thing for people to boast of their family and forefathers, however much they may have degenerated from those forefathers; and not infrequently, the more they have degenerated the louder is their boasting.
1. God reminds them of the humble origin and lowly condition of the patriarch, of whom they boasted so much as their progenitor. The facts of which he thus reminds them conveyed instruction to them, and teach valuable practical lessons still.
(1) The flight of the patriarch; his exile in Padan-aram; his poverty and servitude; having no dowry to give, his service was substituted instead; his hard shepherd-life; all these were calculated to teach humility, and to put an end to the vanity of their boasting.
(2) Though Jacob had been obliged in early life to turn his back on his father"s house, he never turned his back upon his fathers God, or the worship of that God. Here was another lesson, at least by implication, for his descendants to learn. In circumstances unspeakably more favorable they had turned aside from both, and wasted their energies in sinful courses and selfish idolatry, either vainly worshipping God, or transferring the worship due to him to those vanities that were no gods. Thus the lesson of their sad apostasy was next to be unlearned.
(3) The secret of Jacobs success was the blessing of God whom he sought and served. God prospered him and multiplied his seed until they became a great people. Here was cause for gratitude, not for vain-glorying. Another lessen which Israel behooved to learn; and not Israel only, but all who at any time or in any land experience the loving-kindness of the Lord. If we are put in possession of great privileges, if we attain to a position of usefulness and influence, and if we are honored in God"s service, let us not forget the lowliness of our original on the one hand, nor fail to magnify the grace of God in our exaltation on the other; in that grace alone may we glory.
2. He reminds them of that great event of their history, that ever-memorable deliverance out of Egypt.
(1) From this he will have his people learn that when they are brought low by afflictive providences, and suffer severely under the rod of correction, God may be thus preparing them for rich blessings to themselves, and training them for future usefulness in his service. This should promote patient submission, and prevent all unseemly murmuring and sinful complaining.
(2) The way and means of their deliverance were fraught with other profitable instructions. The blessing of deliverance was great, not only for present relief, but subsequent preservation. The Author of it was Jehovah, to whom all the praise and glory wore due sad ever to be ascribed; the agent, a prophet whom God honored in accomplishing his high purpose for the benefit of his people.
III RETRIBUTION THREATENED. Punishment is slow, but sure.
1. Notwithstanding all the warnings and instructions and remembrancers, Ephraim persisted in sin, and that of the most provoking kind. Instead of good grapes being produced in the highly favored vineyard of the Lord, Ephraim"s grapes were grapes of gall and clusters of bitterness. God here speaks after the manner of men who are provoked by the gross misconduct and affronts from their fellow-men, especially from those whom they have served and benefited. In like manner, despite is said to be done to the Spirit of grace, and the Son of God put to an open shame. How dreadful this misconduct of man, a worm of the dust in relation to God, that infinite Spirit!
2. Ruin irremediable cannot fail to be the result. The ruin, too, is self-procured. So with sinners still: they have themselves, not God, to blame; God will not hold them guiltless, yet the fault lies at their own door; their blood is on their own head; their life is forfeited, but it is their own doing; they are moral suicides.
3. Ephraim by iniquity and idolatry had brought dishonor on the Name and people of God. Sinners cause God"s Name to be blasphemed; they bring reproach on our holy religion. This reproach must be rolled away; but it shall at the same time be rolled over or back on those who have occasioned it. Those that bring contempt on religion shall have the finger of scorn and contempt pointed at themselves in the end; those that despise God shall be lightly esteemed; and those who bring reproach upon his cause shall have that reproach returned unto themselves even in this world, while in the eternal world they shall awake up to shame and everlasting contempt.
APPLICATION.
1. Prosperity confirms sinners in their evil ways, and so their hearts are hardened and their consciences become seared.
2. "It is folly to call the riches of this world substance, for they are things that are not.
3. It is folly to attribute our riches to our own industry or ingenuity, as if we made ourselves rich, and as if it were the might and power of our own hand that gets us wealth.
4. It is folly to think our riches are our own, for ourselves, and that we may do what we like with our own. We are only stewards, and shall one day be called to give an account of our stewardship.
5. It is folly to boast of our riches as if they were a permanent possession, or as if they were evidence of peculiar merit in the possessor.
6. "It is folly to think that growing rich in a sinful way either doth make us innocent, or will make us safe, or may make us easy in that way; for the prosperity of fools deceives and destroys them."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v14Therefore shall He leave his blood upon him.
Hos_12:14
Therefore shall He leave his blood upon him.
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The blood-figure: sin and guilt left upon the sinner
That is, he shall bring his sin upon his own head. Those that be wilful in sin, their blood be upon their own heads that is the meaning. Never stand excusing any more, you have warning enough. If you will go on in your way, the blood be upon your own head, you will undo yourselves, and there is no help. Mark the phrase, Therefore shall He leave his blood upon him. When God brings the guilt and punishment of sin on a mans own head, and there leaves it, that is sad indeed. It is happiness when it may be said of God, He has made the sin and the guilt to pass away from the sinner. But on the other side, when God leaves the sin, with its attendant guilt, upon the sinner, there is woe indeed. The Lord many times brings His saints unto the fire of afflictions, but He will not leave them there; but when He brings the wicked into the fire, there He leaves them. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v11Hos_12:11. Vanity] The question strengthens the affirmation. All was…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos_12:11. Vanity] The question strengthens the affirmation. All was to no purpose. Warnings unheeded, altars as numerous as heaps of stones gathered out of the field, and scenes of solemn history were corrupted and ruined.
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Hos_12:12. Jacob] was a fugitive and a servant, in a low condition (Gen_30:31; 1Sa_17:20); did not marry an idolatress: his honest poverty reproves your ungodly gains, and his faith in God your idolatry and unbelief.
Hos_12:13. Israel] as represented in Jacob, the individual, and in the nation in Egypt, has been preserved (Num_12:6; Num_12:8; Deu_18:15; Deu_18:18), kept by God, as Israel kept his flock (Psa_80:1; Isa_63:11).
Hos_12:14. Anger] Lit. with bitterness, instead of gratitude and praise, hence punishment. Blood] Blood-guiltiness a grave crime (Lev_20:9). Leave] The opposite of taking away or forgiving. Return] Dishonour to God repayed to Eph. His] For God does not give up his rights, though men set aside his dominion.
HOMILETICS
SINS REPROVED BY THE VIRTUES OF PROGENITORS, AND PUNISHED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.—Hos_12:11-14
Israel did not permit themselves to be warned and taught, gave themselves up to idolatry and superstition. Conduct which contrasted greatly with Jacob their ancestor. He had become rich by God’s blessing on honest toil, but they were given to wicked customs, which provoked God to anger, destroyed the nation, and banished the people out of the land.
I. Sins reproved by ancestral virtues. Jacob is again referred to that they might learn his humiliation and servitude.
1. Jacob’s conduct reproves them. His faith reproved their unbelief, and his devotion to God their idolatry. He fled from an angry brother, and served a covetous uncle for a wife, rather than marry an idolatress (Gen_28:5). He laboured with diligence, endured injustice, and trusted in God. But they were dishonest in their trade, and insolent in their behaviour. Honest poverty is better than dishonestly-gotten wealth. “I have searched carefully through all the traditions of our family,” said Livingstone’s ancestor to his children round his death-bed, “and I never could discover that there was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If, therefore, any of you should take to dishonest ways, it will not be because it was in our blood. I leave this precept with you—Be honest.”
2. Jacob’s blessing reproves them. He set out with his staff alone, and became two bands (Gen_32:10). The Syrian ready to perish became a mighty nation (Deu_26:19). God preserved the fugitive and exalted him to honour. But Israel, forsaking God and enriching himself, would be dishonoured and driven into exile. God alone is the source of wealth, and honest toil the spring of national prosperity. “Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom,” says Carlyle. “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent” (Pro_28:22-23; Pro_10:22).
II. Sins punished by God’s providence. Israel’s ingratitude and corrupt practices brought severe judgment upon them.
1. The desert of their sins. (a) It was found in places of sacred note. In Gilead and Gilgal, sacred in history and beautiful by nature, “only man was vile.” Spots of signal blessing may become scenes of pollution and guilt. Home, the house of God and the closet, may be consecrated to idols. (b) It was prevalent as the stones in the field. In east and west, in palace and eottage, it abounded. Like a malignant disease, it spread around. (c) It was morally corrupting. Their altars were like heaps of dung-hills; their worship was vanity, and their sacrifices worthless. Endless gifts and innumerable altars only corrupted the morals, and cursed the people. Mere forms will not satisfy the conscience. Moral decay will bring physical decay, and worthlessness will be punished by vanity. (d) It provoked God to anger (Hos_12:14). The provocations were most bitter and grievous. All sin is offensive to God, but sins against light and truth, sins in religious privileges and in Divine warnings, are exceeding sinful. (e) It was constantly committed. Committed against the goodness of God, in delivering them from bondage, guiding them like a shepherd, and teaching them with a prophet. God keeps and blesses men, but they despise his love, and bring condemnation upon themselves.
2. The punishment of their sins. “Therefore shall he leave his blood upon him.” (a) The penalty shall not be taken away. His blood shall rest upon his own head; for he is guilty and deserves death (Lev_20:9; Jos_2:9; 2Sa_1:10). Blood had been shed profusely, and the guilt of his sin remained upon his soul, and punishment cannot be longer delayed. (b) The dishonour done to God shall be given to him. Idolatry is an insult to our Maker, robbing him of his glory, and giving it to the likeness of a man or a beast. Those who reproach God will be dishonoured themselves. For centuries shame and reproach have been the lot of God’s unbelieving people. What a warning to us! What an aggravation of misery to be inflicted by God who desired to bless! If “his Lord” turns against the sinner, who can deliver him? Shame and contempt on earth, “shame and everlasting contempt” hereafter! “Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_12:10-14. Memorials of God’s goodness to a people. I. He raised them from meanness to honour. Jacob a poor fugitive, Israel a mighty nation. II. He raised them from bondage to liberty. “Brought Israel out of Egypt,” and gave them freedom to worship God. He thus acquires special gratitude and service. III. He taught them by his prophets. By Moses (Hos_12:13) and by the ministry of others (Hos_12:10). IV. He guided them by his providence. As Jacob kept sheep, so Israel was kept and preserved by God. Special care and kindness were displayed towards them as a flock (Psa_80:1; Isa_63:11).
Hos_12:11. Certain places and certain altars do not palliate guilt, but testify against it, and prove all forms to be vain and deceitful. Considering the meanness of our origin, we should magnify God’s grace in present prosperity. The Atheist expects riches from diligence alone; the slothful without it; but the true Christian from the blessing of God with it. “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”
Hos_12:12-13. Scripture narratives are useful to remind of sin, warn us of danger, and urge us to God. They were written for our learning (Rom_15:4).
Hos_12:13. “By a prophet of the Lord.” God chooses the humblest instruments to do the mightiest works. “A prophet he is purposely called, and his name concealed:
1. To show that the work was done, not by might nor by power, but by God’s Spirit (Zec_4:6).
2. To show what God will do for his people by the prayers, and for the sake of his prophets, when they are most shiftless and hopeless.
3. To let this unworthy people see how much God had done for them once by a prophet, how little soever now they set by such.”
Heirs of grace may suffer humiliation and distress. In Christ the fullest measure was seen. His people must have their portion.
Hos_12:14. “Let us remember if we will not have God for our God in service, we must have him in spite of ourselves as our Lord to judge and punish us. Let us rather prove his love than his avenging justice” [Fausset].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
Hos_12:11-14. Vanity. In his religion. His holiness is vain conceit; his natural light, Egyptian darkness; his religious forms, “a vain show in the flesh.” In outward circumstances. His rank, a bauble; his beauty, a fading flower; his wealth but glittering dust. “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Jacob’s life. No kind of studious entertainment doth so generally delight as history, or the tradition of remarkable examples: even those who have an abhorrency or indisposition toward other studies are yet often much taken with historical narrations. And such are those which present to us the lives and examples of holy men, abounding with wonders of providence and grace: no attempts so gallant, no exploits so illustrious as those which have been achieved by the faith and patience, by the prudence and courage of the ancient saints; they do far surpass the most famous achievements of pagan heroes. No triumphs are comparable to those of piety; no trophies are so magnificent and durable as those which victorious faith erecteth; that history therefore which reports the res gestœ, the acts and sufferings of most pious men, must in reason be esteemed, not only the most useful, but also the most pleasant [Barrow].
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 translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv11, 13General Information:
General Information:
Hosea the prophet is speaking.
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their altars will be like heaps of stone in the furrows of the fields
The altars where the people worshiped will be thrown down and become piles of stones. (See: Simile)
Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel worked in order to get a wife
Here "Jacob" and "Israel" refer to the same person. Jacob's name became Israel later in his life.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11–14 It is an ironical question, when the Prophet says,…
It is an ironical question, when the Prophet says, Is there iniquity in Gilead? and he laughs to scorn their madness who delighted themselves in vices so gross, when their worship was wholly spurious and degenerated. When they knew that they were perfidious towards God, and followed a worship alienated from his law, they yet were so perverse, that they proudly refused all admonitions. Since then they were blinded in their vices, the Prophet asks them ironically, Is there iniquity in Gilead? They are as yet doubtful, forsooth, whether they are guilty before God, whether they bear any blame. Surely, he says, they are vanity; that is, “How much soever they may seek specious pretences for themselves, and deny that they are conscious of doing wrong, and also introduce many reasons for doubt, that they may not be forced to own their sin, they yet, he says, are guilty of falsehood; all their glosses contain nothing solid, but they are mere disguises, which avail nothing before God.” We now then apprehend the meaning of the Prophet.
But there is no doubt but that he also condemns here their perverted worship, by which the Israelites at the same time thought that they rendered the best service to God. But obedience, we know, is better than all sacrifices. The Prophet then inveighs here against all fictitious modes of worship, devised without God against the authority of God’s law. But at the same time, as we have just hinted, he indirectly exposes their thoughtlessness for imagining themselves excusable, provided they set up their own good intention, as it is commonly done, and say, that they built altars with no other design than to make known everywhere the name of God, to preserve among themselves some tokens of religion. Since, then, they thus raised up a cloud of smoke to cover their impiety, the Prophet says, “They indeed still inquire, as of a doubtful thing, whether there is iniquity in Gilead; let them inquire and dispute; surely,” he says, “they are vain;” literally, surely they have been falsehood: but he means that they foolishly brought forward those frivolous excuses, by which they tried to escape the crime and its punishment. How was it that they were vain? Because God values his own law more than all the glosses of men, and he will have all men to obey, without dispute, his own word: but when they thus licentiously depart from his commandments, it is what he cannot endure. They are then false and deceive themselves, who think that their own inventions are of any value before God. He then lays down their crimes
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In Gilgal, he says, have they sacrificed oxen Jerome translates, “They sacrifice to oxen,” and thinks that the Israelites are reprehended here for sacrificing to the calves: but this seems too remote from the words of the Prophet. The Prophet then mentions their sin — that they sacrificed oxen and multiplied altars. And yet it seemed to be a diligence worthy of praise, that they increased many altars, that they worshipped God everywhere, that they spared neither expense nor labour, that they were not content with few sacrifices, but added a great number; — all this seemed to deserve no common praise: but the Lord, as it has been already said, valued not these corrupt practices; for he would have himself to be alone worshipped by his people, and would have their piety to be attested by this single evidence — their obedience to his word. When we then turn aside from God’s word, nay, when we with loose reins abandon ourselves to new inventions, though we may plausibly profess that our object is to worship God, yet all this is a vain and fallacious pretence, as the Prophet here declares.
Jerome is mistaken in thinking that Gilgal was a town in the tribe of Judah; and the supposition cannot suit this place: for Judah, we know, was then free from those gross pollutions; Judah was not as yet polluted with the defilements which the Prophet here condemns in the kingdom of Israel. It is then certain, that Gilgal was a town of Israel; and we know that a celebrated temple and altar were there: hence he especially points out this place.
But he afterwards adds, Their altars are as heaps on the furrows of the field There was then we know, only one legitimate altar; and God would not have sacrifices offered to him, except in one place. Hence the more active the Israelites were in multiplying altars, the more they provoked the vengeance of God: how much soever it was their purpose to worship God, yet God spurned that foolish affectedness. We then see why the Prophet here compares the altars then erected in the kingdom of Israel to heaps of stones; as though he said “As one gathers stones into a heap, when the land is stony, that he may drive his plough more easily, so every one forms an altar for himself, as though he were raising up a hillock in his own field: thus it comes, that they perversely corrupt the pure and lawful worship which I have appointed.” We now then understand the meaning of the Prophet to be, that superstitious men gain nothing, when they boldly and openly boast that they worship God; for whatever disguise they may invent for themselves and others, the Lord yet abominates every thing that is contrary to his word: and our mode Of worshipping God is alone true and lawful, when we only follow what he prescribes, and allow to ourselves nothing but what is according to his command and appointment. This is the meaning. Let us proceed —
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 On vv11–13 The people thought that no man durst have spoken…
The people thought that no man durst have spoken against Gilead, that holy place, and yet the Prophet saith, that all their religion was but vanity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–14 Hos 12:11 [Is there] iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they…
Hos 12:11 [Is there] iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars [are] as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
Ver. 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead] What, in Gilead, a city of priests? {Hos 6:8} {See Trapp on "Hos 6:8"} yea, Gilead is a city of those that work iniquity, a very Poneropolis, a place of naughty packs, Hos 4:15. Now there is not a worse creature on earth than a wicked priest, nor a worse place than a wicked Gilead. The Hebrew hath it thus, Is Gilead iniquity? Or as Luther, Drusius, and others, Surely it is so ( אם certe, vere, profecto). Confer Mic 1:5. Gregory Nazianzen reports of Athens, that it was the plaguiest place in the world for superstition. Our universities were so in times of Popery, and began to be so again a few years since. Revera Gilead est iniquitas, profecto vanitas sunt, they were grown so incorrigibly flagitious that they seemed to be, as it were, transformed into sin’s image. Some render the text thus: "Is there iniquity in Gilead? Are they only vanity in Gilgal? They sacrificed bullocks," and set this sense upon it. What? think you the men of Gilead, those beyond the river of Jordan, whom Tiglathpileser spoiled and led captives, that they only were guilty of idolatry, and you not, because you remain at home, untouched of the Assyrian? Nay, saith he, the very entrance into the country, Gilgal itself, so aboundeth with idolatry, that it is not to be doubted but in the rest of the parts of the kingdom their altars are as thick as furrows in the field, that is to say, innumerable. Some think this last clause, "their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field" (or of my fields, whereof I am chief Lord, and wherein he should have served me, and not idols), hath reference to some superstitious way of theirs, of seeking God by erecting altars in the furrows, for the fructifying of their fields: the heathen did so to their Dii Terminales; boundary gods, and the Papists still do so in their solemn processions, erecting crosses and crucifixes in the bounds of their fields, and thereby thinking to get a blessing on their corn and pastures. Tarnovius noteth here, that God in the Old Testament would therefore have but one altar whereon to offer sacrifice, and that to be at Jerusalem only; to teach them that Christ, the anti-type of all their sacrifices, should once be offered up upon the altar of his cross, a propitiation for their sins, Heb 9:1-28; Heb 10:1-39. This altar he also appointed to be in the temple, that the sacrificers might believe the gracious presence of God with them, and might worship him in spirit and in truth.
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 On vv11–14 Is there iniquity in Gilead? in this concise interrogatory…
Is there iniquity in Gilead? in this concise interrogatory the prophet warns the refractory, ungodly Israelites by an example of God’s wrath on them. About A.M. 326.1, at Ahaz’s request and charges, Tiglath-pileser came up against Israel, and took Gilead among other towns, leading the inhabitants captives, 2Ki 15:29; now some sixteen or seventeen years after doth our prophet mind the sinful and secure Ephraimites what they must expect, and doth it in this pungent question,
Is there iniquity in Gilead? i.e. is there only? or is there more? much like that of Christ’s, Luk 13:2,
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Suppose ye them greater sinners? Be it so, captive Gilead was all iniquity, and Gilgal is no better. They that come up to Gilgal to sacrifice are idolaters, they sin against God in offering to them, and against their own welfare in trusting to them, both ways they appear to be vanity; whilst they multiply these altars and sacrifices, they multiply their sins, God’s displeasure is increased, and the danger more near and dreadful.
Their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields: idolatrous Israel, thou aboundest in altars; but if they are for number like heaps of stones, gathered out of ploughed land and laid in furrows, they are as common too, i.e. as far from sacred, as far from commending any offering to God, or stoning his displeasure. And canst thou, Ephraim, hope to escape, whose sins exceed the sins of captive Gilead? wilt thou never be wise, never warned, never repent?
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 On vv11–14 Is there iniquity in Gilead?.... Idolatry there? strange that…
Is there iniquity in Gilead?.... Idolatry there? strange that there should be, seeing it was a city of the priests; a city of refuge; or there is none there, say the priests, who pretended they did not worship idols, but the true Jehovah in them: or, "is there not iniquity", or idolatry, "in Gilead" (e)? verily there is, let them pretend to what they will: or, "is there only iniquity in it" (f)? that the men of it should be carried captive, as they were by TiglathPileser, before the rest of the tribes; see Kg2 15:29; no, there is iniquity and idolatry committed in other places, as well as there, who must expect to share the same fate in time: or, "is Gilead Aven?" (g) that is, Bethaven, the same with Bethel; it is as that, as guilty of idolatry as Bethel, where one of the calves was set up:
surely they are vanity: the inhabitants of Gilead, as well as of Bethel, worshipping idols, which are most vain things, vanity itself, and deceive those that serve them, and trust in them:
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they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal: to idols, as the Targum adds; and so Jarchi and Kimchi; according to Aben Ezra, they sacrificed them to Baal; this shows that Gilead was not the only place for idolatry, which was on the other side Jordan, but Gilgal, which was on this side Jordan, was also polluted with it. The Vulgate Latin version is,
"in Gilgal they were sacrificing to bullocks;''
to the calves there, the same as were at Dan and Bethel; so, in the Septuagint version of Kg1 12:29; it was formerly read: and so Cyril (h) quotes it, "he (Jeroboam) set the one (calf) in Gilgal, and the other in Dan"; hence the fable that Epiphanius (i) makes mention of, that, when Elisha was born, the golden ox or heifer at Gilgal bellowed very loudly, and so loud as to be heard at Jerusalem. The Targum makes mention of an idol temple here; and as it was near to Bethel, as appears from Sa1 10:3; and from Josephus (k); and so Jerom says (l), hard by Bethel; some suspect another Gilgal; hence it might be put for it; however, it was a place of like idolatrous worship; it is mentioned as such along with Bethaven or Bethel, in Hos 4:15; see also Hos 9:15;
yea, their altars are as heaps in, the furrows of the fields; not only in the city of Gilgal, and in the temple there, as the Targum; but even without the city, in the fields they set up altars, which looked like heaps of stones; or they had a multitude of altars that stood as thick as they. So the Targum,
"they have multiplied their altars, like heaps upon the borders of the fields;''
and the Jewish commentators in general understand this as expressive of the number of their altars, and of the increase of idolatrous worship; but some interpret it of the destruction of their altars, which should become heaps of stones and rubbish, like such as are in fields. These words respect Ephraim or the ten tribes, in which these places were, whose idolatry is again taken notice of, after gracious promises were made to Judah. Some begin here a new sermon or discourse delivered to Israel.
(e) "an non in Galaad iniquitas?" Vatablus. (f) "En in Gileade tantum iniquitas?" Piscator. (g) "Num Gilead Aven?" Schmidt. (h) Apud Reland. Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. l. 3. p. 783. (i) De Vita & Interitu Prophet. c. 6. & Paschal. Chronic. p. 161. apud Reland. ib. (k) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect. 9. (l) De locis Hebr. fol. 91. M.
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 On vv11–14 In Gilead - Tiglah Pileser had formerly took Gilead…
In Gilead - Tiglah Pileser had formerly took Gilead among other towns, leading the inhabitants captive. By this the prophet minds the Ephraimites what they must expect, and doth it in this pungent question, Is there iniquity in Gilead? Is it there only? Be it, Gilead was all iniquity; Gilgal is no better. They - They that come up to Gilgal to sacrifice, are idolaters. In the furrows - They are for number like heaps of stones, gathered out of plowed land and laid in furrows.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–14 Verse 11. Iniquity in Gilead] Gilgal and Gilead are…
Verse 11. Iniquity in Gilead] Gilgal and Gilead are equally iniquitous, and equally idolatrous. Gilead, which was beyond Jordan, had already been brought under subjection by Tiglath-Pileser. Gilgal, which was on this side Jordan, shall share the same fate; because it is now as idolatrous as the other.
Their altars are as heaps] They occur everywhere. The whole land is given to idolatry.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11, 14 Hos 12:11-13. Is there iniquity in Gilead? — Or,…
Hos 12:11-13. Is there iniquity in Gilead? — Or, Was there idolatry in Gilead? as the word אוןoften signifies. Surely they are vanity, &c., in Gilgal — The tribes settled about Gilead beyond Jordan, were already captivated by Tiglath-pileser. And God declares here by the prophet, that the idolatry still practised in Gilgal was equally abominable, and would bring down similar judgments upon the remaining tribes on the west of Jordan. Yea, their altars are as heaps — Notwithstanding this judgment of God upon Gilead, they continue to offer sacrifices to their idols in Gilgal; and their altars stand so thick, that they are discernible as stones gathered up, and laid in heaps in the fields. Some understand the sentence as containing a threatening that their altars should be demolished, and become so many ruinous heaps, 2Ki 19:25. But Jacob fled into the country of Syria, &c. — “So opposite to yours was the conduct of your father Jacob, that he fled into Syria to avoid an alliance with any of the idolatrous families of Canaan; and, in firm reliance on God’s promises, submitted to the greatest hardships.” And therefore by a prophet, &c. — “And, in reward of his faith, God did such great things for his posterity, bringing them out of the land of Egypt, and leading them through the wilderness like sheep by the hand of his servant Moses.” — Horsley.
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 On vv11–14 Is there iniquity in Gilead? - The prophet asks…
Is there iniquity in Gilead? - The prophet asks the question, in order to answer it the more peremptorily. He raises the doubt, in order to crush it the more impressively. Is there “iniquity” in “Gilead?” Alas, there was nothing else. “Surely they are vanity,” or, strictly, “they have become merely vanity.” As he said before, “they become abominations like their love.” “For such as men make their idols, or conceive their God to be, such they become themselves. As then he who worships God with a pure heart, is made like unto God, so they who worship stocks and stones, or who make passions and lusts their idols, lose the mind of men and become ‘like the beasts which perish.’” “In Gilgal they have sacrificed oxen. Gilead” represents all the country on its side, the East of Jordan; “Gilgal,” all on its side, the West of Jordan. In both, God had signally shown forth His mercies; in both, they dishonored God, sacrificing to idols, and offering His creatures, as a gift to devils.
Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field - Their altars are like the heaps of stones, from which men clear the plowed land, in order to fit it for cultivation, as numerous as profuse, as worthless, as desolate. “Their” altars they were, not God’s. They did, (as sinners do,) in the service of devils, what, had they done it to God, would have been accepted, rewarded, service. Full often they sacrificed oxen; they threw great state into their religion; they omitted nothing which should shed around it an empty show of worship. They multiplied their altars, their sins, their ruins; many altars over against His one altar; : “rude heaps of stones, in His sight; and such they should become, no one stone being left in order upon another.” In contrast with their sins and ingratitude, the prophet exhibits two pictures, the one, of the virtues of the patriarch whose name they bore, from whom was the beginning of their race; the other, of God’s love to them, in that beginning of their national existence, when God brought those who had been a body of slaves in Egypt, to be His own people.
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 On vv11–14 Idol. That is, if Galaad, with all its idols…
Idol. That is, if Galaad, with all its idols and sacrifices, be like a mere idol itself, being brought to nothing by Theglathphalassar, how vain is it to expect that the idols worshipped in Galgal shall be of any service to the tribes that remain. (Challoner) --- Will these idols be more powerful? Septuagint copies vary. Roman edition has Galaad, and Complutensian Galgal in both places. But that of St. Jerome and of Theodoret is better. --- Heaps of stones. They are in ruins, or very numerous: (Calmet) yet have not secured the country. (Haydock)
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 On vv11–14 Is there iniquity in Gilead?--He asks the question, not…
Is there iniquity in Gilead?--He asks the question, not as if the answer was doubtful, but to strengthen the affirmation: "Surely they are vanity"; or as MAURER translates, "They are nothing but iniquity." Iniquity, especially idolatry, in Scripture is often termed "vanity." Pro 13:11 : "Wealth gotten by vanity," that is, iniquity. Isa 41:29 : "They are all vanity . . . images." "Gilead" refers to Mizpah-gilead, a city representing the region beyond Jordan (Hos 6:8; Jdg 11:29); as "Gilgal," the region on this side of Jordan (Hos 4:15). In all quarters alike they are utterly vile.
their altars are as heaps in the furrows--that is, as numerous as such heaps: namely, the heaps of stones cleared out of a stony field. An appropriate image, as at a distance they look like altars (compare Hos 10:1, Hos 10:4; Hos 8:11). As the third member in the parallelism answers to the first, "Gilgal" to "Gilead," so the fourth to the second, "altars" to "vanity." The word "heaps" alludes to the name "Gilgal," meaning "a heap of stones." The very scene of the general circumcision of the people, and of the solemn passover kept after crossing Jordan, is now the stronghold of Israel's idolatry.
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 On v14 14. Surely Jehovah was justified in expecting gratitude; but…
14. Surely Jehovah was justified in expecting gratitude; but he was disappointed.
Ephraim — Israel (13).
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Provoked… to anger — By its lack of gratitude and open rebellion. The anger of Jehovah is one phase of his holiness, which manifests itself in intense love for everything that is pure and good and in intense hatred for everything that is impure and bad.
Blood — Bloodguiltiness (G.-K., 124n).
Shall he leave — R.V., “shall… be left.” The Hebrew verb is even stronger, “shall be thrust upon him.”
Under no consideration will it be removed, and being left upon the criminal it will surely bring punishment.
His reproach — Or, insult; the dishonor heaped upon Jehovah by the sin and rebellion of Ephraim (Isa_65:7).
Unto him — Ephraim “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
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 On vv11–14 11. The ruin of two famous centres of idolatry,…
11. The ruin of two famous centres of idolatry, representing together the entire northern kingdom.
Is there iniquity, &c.] More probably, If Gilead is (given to) idolatry, mere vanity shall they (the Gileadites) become, i.e. apostacy from Him who is the only source of life leads to sure destruction; ‘they that make the idols become like unto them.’ The town of Gilead has already been singled out for reprobation in Hos_6:8-9. For the historical fulfilment of the prophecy, see 2Ki_15:29—‘in the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and took … Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria’ (compare Tiglath-Pileser’s own account of his expedition against Philistia in b.c. 734; G. Smith, Eponym Canon, p. 123, Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, on 2Ki_15:29).
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they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal] Or, as it might well be stated in the margin, ‘in Heap-town’ (see next note). They affront Jehovah by sacrificing at idolatrous shrines, especially at Gilgal (see on Hos_4:15). So the Targum. Others, by a slight emendation, ‘they sacrifice to the bullocks in Gilgal’, i.e. to the steer-gods; but there is no parallel for such a use of the word ‘bullocks.’ St Jerome’s ‘bobus immolantes’ is an ungrammatical rendering of our present text (see his note).
yea, their altars are as heaps, &c.] Rather, so then their altars shall he as stone-heaps, i.e. like heaps of stones which a careful husbandman has gathered out of his ploughed field (comp. Mic_1:6). The idiom employed (lit., ‘also their altars’ &c.) indicates the correspondence between cause and effect, a sin and its retribution (comp. Isa_66:3 b, 4a); the tense is the prophetic perfect. There is a paronomasia in Gilgal (as if ‘Heap-town’, comp. Jos_4:20), and gallim (‘heaps’); the very name of Gilgal seems to suggest its impending fate. Some think the name ‘Gilead’ is also included in the paronomasia, but in spite of the apparent support of Gen_31:47-48, this is not the more natural view of Hosea’s language. At most, there is a play upon the similarity of sound in Gilead and Gilgal; not upon any supposed similarity of meaning.
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 On vv11–14 (11) Translate, If Gilead be worthless, surely they have…
(11) Translate, If Gilead be worthless, surely they have become nought. In Gilgal they sacrificed bullocks; their altars also are like heaps upon the field’s furrows, referring to a past event, the desolating invasion of Gilead by Tiglath-pileser, in 734 B.C. To this military expedition we have undoubted references in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser II. But unfortunately they are in a very mutilated condition. From one passage we learn:—“The city Gil [ead] and [A] bel [Maacha] which is on this side the land Beth Omri (Samaria) the distant . . . I joined in its whole extent to the territory of Assyria.” The biblical passage, 2Ki_15:29, supplements this account by stating that Napntali and Galilee also fell victims to the victorious arms of the invader. From the verse before us we infer that Gilgal, on the western bank of the Jordan near Jericho (see Note on 4:15), likewise felt the heavy hand of the conqueror, or perhaps the inhabitants fled in panic and the local shrines became deserted ruins. From this time forth we hear no more of Gilgal as a religious centre. Nowack, however, follows Ewald in regarding the passage as prophetic of a coming calamity. (See Introduction.) In the word for “heaps” (gallîm) there is a play on the name Gilgal.
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 On vv11–14 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity.…
Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity. In reference to hypotheticals, Driver remarks, "With an imperfect in protasis. The apodosis may then begin
(a) hath vav con. and the perfect;
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(b) with the infinitive (without ray);
(c) with perfect alone (expressing the certainty and suddenness with which the result immediately accomplishes the occurrence of the promise. Hos_12:12 (wyh in apodesis, "of the certain future")." The first part of this clause has been variously rendered. Some take
(a) affirmatively, in the sense of certainly, assuredly; others translate it
(b) interrogatively, as in the Authorized Version, though even thus it would be more accurately rendered: Is Gilead iniquity of Pusey, following the common version, explains it as follows: "The prophet asks the question in order to answer it more peremptorily. He raises the doubt in order to crush it the more impressively." Is there iniquity in Gilead? "Alas I there was nothing else. Surely they are vanity; or, strictly, they have become merely vanity." There does not appear, however, sufficient reason for departing from the ordinary meaning of the word,
(c) namely, if thus, If Gilead, iniquity (worthlessness), surely they have become vanity. The clause thus rendered may denote one of two things either
(a) moral worthlessness followed by physical nothingness, that is, moral decay followed by physical sin succeeded by suffering; or
(b) progress in moral corruption. To the former exposition corresponds the comment of Kimchi, as follows: Gilead began to work vanity (nothingness)," for they began to do wickedness first, and they have been first carried into captivity. v can connect itself with what precedes, so that its meaning is about Gilead which he has mentioned, and the sense would be repeated in different words. Or its sense shall be in connection with Gilgal. And although zakeph is on the word wyh, all the accents of the inter. prefers do not follow after the accents of the points." Similarly Rashi: "If disaster and oppression come upon them (the Gileadites) they have caused it to themselves, for certainly they are worthlessness, and sacrifies bullocks to idols in Gilgal. The verb Wyh is a prophetic perfect implying the certainty of the prediction, as though already an accomplished fact." The exposition of Aben Ezra favors (b); thus: "If the Gileadites, before I sent prophets to them, were worthlessness, surely they have become vanity, that is, instead of being morally better, they have become worse." To this exposition we find a parallel in Jer_2:5, "They have walked after vanity, and are become vain." They sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal. for like from jwOj. The inhabitants of Gilgal on the west were no better than the Gileadites on the east of Jordan; the whole kingdom, in fact, was overrun with idolatry. The sin of the people of Gilgal did not consist in the animals offered, but in the unlawfulness of the place of sacrifice. The punishment of both Gilgal and Gilead is denounced in the following part of the verse. Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. Gilead signified" heap of witnesses," and Gilgal "heaping heap. The latter was mentioned in Hos_4:15 and Hos_9:15 as a notable center of idol-worship ("all their wickedness is in Gilgal") and retained, as we learn from the present passage, its notoriety for unlawful sacrifices, sacrifices customarily and continually offered (viz. iterative sense of Piel); the former was signalized in Hos_6:8 as "a city of them that work iniquity," and "polluted with blood." The altars in both places are to be turned into stone-heaps; this is expressed by a play on words so frequent in Hebrew; at Gilead as well as Gilgal they are to become gallim, or heaps of stones, such as husbandmen gather off ploughed and leave in useless heaps for the greater convenience of removal, (related to toll, a hill, that which is thrown up) is a furrow as formed by casting up or tearing into. The ruinous heaps of the altars implied, not only their destruction, but the desolation of the country. The altars would become dilapidated heaps, and the country depopulated. The Hebrew interpreters, however, connect with the heap-like altars the idea of number and conspicuousness: this they make prominent as indicating the gross idolatry of the people. Thus Rabbi: "Their altars are numerous as heaps in the furrows of the field. y yt is the furrow of the plougher, called telem;" Aben Ezra: "ynk is by way of figure, because they were numerous and conspicuous." Pococke combines with the idea of number that of ruinous heaps heaps of stones, in his sight; and such they should become, no one stone being left in order upon another." Kimchi"s comment on the verse is the following: "The children of Gilgal were neighbors to the land of Gilead, only the Jordan was between them; they learnt also their ways (doings), and began to serve idols like them, and to practice iniquity and vanity, and sacrificed oxen to strange gods in the place where they had raised an altar to Jehovah the blessed, and where they had set up the tabernacle at the first after they had passed over Jordan: there also they sacrificed oxen to their idols. Not enough that they made an altar in Gilgal to idols, but they also built outside the city altars many and conspicuous, like heaps of stones on the furrows of the field.
Vers. 11-14. Reproofs and remembrancers.
Reproofs for sin, and remembrancers of mercy.
I REBUKES FOR SIN.
1. The richest temporal blessings are blighted by sin. Gilead was a fruitful and pleasant region, as may be inferred from references to it in Scripture, as when God says, "Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness," and when its productions are spoken of, and its pasturages celebrated. It is still a beautiful district, with its hills and dales, wooded slopes, luxuriant pastures, lovely flowers, and refreshing streamlets. In addition to the natural advantages of the country, there was the city of Gilead, where the ministers of religion on the other side of Jordan dwelt. But sin sadly marred this fair and fertile land; so with many a region "where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile." The inhabitants are branded as transgressors of both tables of the Divine Law; iniquity character-fled their conduct towards man, and idolatry their worship of God; while the priests, instead of hindering, only helped the people in their sinful service. However incredible it might appear, nevertheless it was a fact; nor were they improving at the time to which the prophet refers nay, they seem to have been going from bad to worse.
2. The vanity of will-worship. Will-worship may show much zeal, as appears to have been the case with the Gileadites; yet, without a Divine warrant, it is vanity all the same. They contravened the institution of the Most High, which had appointed one temple, one altar, and one priesthood. Severely, too, had they suffered for their sins. Inhabiting a border-land, they were exposed to the inroads arid attacks of enemies, and much needed the Divine protection; but by their sins had forfeited that protection. Consequently they "were threshed," as a contemporary prophet tells us, "with threshing instruments of iron," and, being among the first that fell under the power of Assyria, they were carried away captive from their goodly, pleasant land.
3. Superstition no substitute for spiritual service. Nearness to God in outward relation or profession may coexist with absence of right religious principle; and where such is the case, outward observances neither secure from sin nor shield from its punishment. Thus the people el Gilgal, though west of the Jordan and belonging to Judah, were nearer the temple, and so nearer in outward relation to its worship, yet were quite as bad as the trans-Jordanic Gileadites. They had the externals of religion, and were no doubt zealous about them; they presented rich sacrifices and possessed numerous altars; but the altars they had set up were either to strange gods in opposition to the true God, or to the true God in opposition to his own appointment. "Whosoever they be, this side or the other, who profess to come nearest, if they mingle their own inventions in worship, God will be more sorely displeased with them: the more piety and holiness, the more we profess to come close to the Word of God, and yet withal mingle our own inventions, the more is God displeased; Gilgal offends more than Gilead.
II REMEMBRANCERS OF MERCY. They magnified their ancestor Jacob, but misread his history; they gloried in his greatness, but forsook the God who made him great. It is a common thing for people to boast of their family and forefathers, however much they may have degenerated from those forefathers; and not infrequently, the more they have degenerated the louder is their boasting.
1. God reminds them of the humble origin and lowly condition of the patriarch, of whom they boasted so much as their progenitor. The facts of which he thus reminds them conveyed instruction to them, and teach valuable practical lessons still.
(1) The flight of the patriarch; his exile in Padan-aram; his poverty and servitude; having no dowry to give, his service was substituted instead; his hard shepherd-life; all these were calculated to teach humility, and to put an end to the vanity of their boasting.
(2) Though Jacob had been obliged in early life to turn his back on his father"s house, he never turned his back upon his fathers God, or the worship of that God. Here was another lesson, at least by implication, for his descendants to learn. In circumstances unspeakably more favorable they had turned aside from both, and wasted their energies in sinful courses and selfish idolatry, either vainly worshipping God, or transferring the worship due to him to those vanities that were no gods. Thus the lesson of their sad apostasy was next to be unlearned.
(3) The secret of Jacobs success was the blessing of God whom he sought and served. God prospered him and multiplied his seed until they became a great people. Here was cause for gratitude, not for vain-glorying. Another lessen which Israel behooved to learn; and not Israel only, but all who at any time or in any land experience the loving-kindness of the Lord. If we are put in possession of great privileges, if we attain to a position of usefulness and influence, and if we are honored in God"s service, let us not forget the lowliness of our original on the one hand, nor fail to magnify the grace of God in our exaltation on the other; in that grace alone may we glory.
2. He reminds them of that great event of their history, that ever-memorable deliverance out of Egypt.
(1) From this he will have his people learn that when they are brought low by afflictive providences, and suffer severely under the rod of correction, God may be thus preparing them for rich blessings to themselves, and training them for future usefulness in his service. This should promote patient submission, and prevent all unseemly murmuring and sinful complaining.
(2) The way and means of their deliverance were fraught with other profitable instructions. The blessing of deliverance was great, not only for present relief, but subsequent preservation. The Author of it was Jehovah, to whom all the praise and glory wore due sad ever to be ascribed; the agent, a prophet whom God honored in accomplishing his high purpose for the benefit of his people.
III RETRIBUTION THREATENED. Punishment is slow, but sure.
1. Notwithstanding all the warnings and instructions and remembrancers, Ephraim persisted in sin, and that of the most provoking kind. Instead of good grapes being produced in the highly favored vineyard of the Lord, Ephraim"s grapes were grapes of gall and clusters of bitterness. God here speaks after the manner of men who are provoked by the gross misconduct and affronts from their fellow-men, especially from those whom they have served and benefited. In like manner, despite is said to be done to the Spirit of grace, and the Son of God put to an open shame. How dreadful this misconduct of man, a worm of the dust in relation to God, that infinite Spirit!
2. Ruin irremediable cannot fail to be the result. The ruin, too, is self-procured. So with sinners still: they have themselves, not God, to blame; God will not hold them guiltless, yet the fault lies at their own door; their blood is on their own head; their life is forfeited, but it is their own doing; they are moral suicides.
3. Ephraim by iniquity and idolatry had brought dishonor on the Name and people of God. Sinners cause God"s Name to be blasphemed; they bring reproach on our holy religion. This reproach must be rolled away; but it shall at the same time be rolled over or back on those who have occasioned it. Those that bring contempt on religion shall have the finger of scorn and contempt pointed at themselves in the end; those that despise God shall be lightly esteemed; and those who bring reproach upon his cause shall have that reproach returned unto themselves even in this world, while in the eternal world they shall awake up to shame and everlasting contempt.
APPLICATION.
1. Prosperity confirms sinners in their evil ways, and so their hearts are hardened and their consciences become seared.
2. "It is folly to call the riches of this world substance, for they are things that are not.
3. It is folly to attribute our riches to our own industry or ingenuity, as if we made ourselves rich, and as if it were the might and power of our own hand that gets us wealth.
4. It is folly to think our riches are our own, for ourselves, and that we may do what we like with our own. We are only stewards, and shall one day be called to give an account of our stewardship.
5. It is folly to boast of our riches as if they were a permanent possession, or as if they were evidence of peculiar merit in the possessor.
6. "It is folly to think that growing rich in a sinful way either doth make us innocent, or will make us safe, or may make us easy in that way; for the prosperity of fools deceives and destroys them."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v14 Therefore shall He leave his blood upon him.
Hos_12:14
Therefore shall He leave his blood upon him.
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The blood-figure: sin and guilt left upon the sinner
That is, he shall bring his sin upon his own head. Those that be wilful in sin, their blood be upon their own heads that is the meaning. Never stand excusing any more, you have warning enough. If you will go on in your way, the blood be upon your own head, you will undo yourselves, and there is no help. Mark the phrase, Therefore shall He leave his blood upon him. When God brings the guilt and punishment of sin on a mans own head, and there leaves it, that is sad indeed. It is happiness when it may be said of God, He has made the sin and the guilt to pass away from the sinner. But on the other side, when God leaves the sin, with its attendant guilt, upon the sinner, there is woe indeed. The Lord many times brings His saints unto the fire of afflictions, but He will not leave them there; but when He brings the wicked into the fire, there He leaves them. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v11 Hos_12:11. Vanity] The question strengthens the affirmation. All was…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos_12:11. Vanity] The question strengthens the affirmation. All was to no purpose. Warnings unheeded, altars as numerous as heaps of stones gathered out of the field, and scenes of solemn history were corrupted and ruined.
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Hos_12:12. Jacob] was a fugitive and a servant, in a low condition (Gen_30:31; 1Sa_17:20); did not marry an idolatress: his honest poverty reproves your ungodly gains, and his faith in God your idolatry and unbelief.
Hos_12:13. Israel] as represented in Jacob, the individual, and in the nation in Egypt, has been preserved (Num_12:6; Num_12:8; Deu_18:15; Deu_18:18), kept by God, as Israel kept his flock (Psa_80:1; Isa_63:11).
Hos_12:14. Anger] Lit. with bitterness, instead of gratitude and praise, hence punishment. Blood] Blood-guiltiness a grave crime (Lev_20:9). Leave] The opposite of taking away or forgiving. Return] Dishonour to God repayed to Eph. His] For God does not give up his rights, though men set aside his dominion.
HOMILETICS
SINS REPROVED BY THE VIRTUES OF PROGENITORS, AND PUNISHED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.—Hos_12:11-14
Israel did not permit themselves to be warned and taught, gave themselves up to idolatry and superstition. Conduct which contrasted greatly with Jacob their ancestor. He had become rich by God’s blessing on honest toil, but they were given to wicked customs, which provoked God to anger, destroyed the nation, and banished the people out of the land.
I. Sins reproved by ancestral virtues. Jacob is again referred to that they might learn his humiliation and servitude.
1. Jacob’s conduct reproves them. His faith reproved their unbelief, and his devotion to God their idolatry. He fled from an angry brother, and served a covetous uncle for a wife, rather than marry an idolatress (Gen_28:5). He laboured with diligence, endured injustice, and trusted in God. But they were dishonest in their trade, and insolent in their behaviour. Honest poverty is better than dishonestly-gotten wealth. “I have searched carefully through all the traditions of our family,” said Livingstone’s ancestor to his children round his death-bed, “and I never could discover that there was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If, therefore, any of you should take to dishonest ways, it will not be because it was in our blood. I leave this precept with you—Be honest.”
2. Jacob’s blessing reproves them. He set out with his staff alone, and became two bands (Gen_32:10). The Syrian ready to perish became a mighty nation (Deu_26:19). God preserved the fugitive and exalted him to honour. But Israel, forsaking God and enriching himself, would be dishonoured and driven into exile. God alone is the source of wealth, and honest toil the spring of national prosperity. “Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom,” says Carlyle. “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent” (Pro_28:22-23; Pro_10:22).
II. Sins punished by God’s providence. Israel’s ingratitude and corrupt practices brought severe judgment upon them.
1. The desert of their sins. (a) It was found in places of sacred note. In Gilead and Gilgal, sacred in history and beautiful by nature, “only man was vile.” Spots of signal blessing may become scenes of pollution and guilt. Home, the house of God and the closet, may be consecrated to idols. (b) It was prevalent as the stones in the field. In east and west, in palace and eottage, it abounded. Like a malignant disease, it spread around. (c) It was morally corrupting. Their altars were like heaps of dung-hills; their worship was vanity, and their sacrifices worthless. Endless gifts and innumerable altars only corrupted the morals, and cursed the people. Mere forms will not satisfy the conscience. Moral decay will bring physical decay, and worthlessness will be punished by vanity. (d) It provoked God to anger (Hos_12:14). The provocations were most bitter and grievous. All sin is offensive to God, but sins against light and truth, sins in religious privileges and in Divine warnings, are exceeding sinful. (e) It was constantly committed. Committed against the goodness of God, in delivering them from bondage, guiding them like a shepherd, and teaching them with a prophet. God keeps and blesses men, but they despise his love, and bring condemnation upon themselves.
2. The punishment of their sins. “Therefore shall he leave his blood upon him.” (a) The penalty shall not be taken away. His blood shall rest upon his own head; for he is guilty and deserves death (Lev_20:9; Jos_2:9; 2Sa_1:10). Blood had been shed profusely, and the guilt of his sin remained upon his soul, and punishment cannot be longer delayed. (b) The dishonour done to God shall be given to him. Idolatry is an insult to our Maker, robbing him of his glory, and giving it to the likeness of a man or a beast. Those who reproach God will be dishonoured themselves. For centuries shame and reproach have been the lot of God’s unbelieving people. What a warning to us! What an aggravation of misery to be inflicted by God who desired to bless! If “his Lord” turns against the sinner, who can deliver him? Shame and contempt on earth, “shame and everlasting contempt” hereafter! “Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_12:10-14. Memorials of God’s goodness to a people. I. He raised them from meanness to honour. Jacob a poor fugitive, Israel a mighty nation. II. He raised them from bondage to liberty. “Brought Israel out of Egypt,” and gave them freedom to worship God. He thus acquires special gratitude and service. III. He taught them by his prophets. By Moses (Hos_12:13) and by the ministry of others (Hos_12:10). IV. He guided them by his providence. As Jacob kept sheep, so Israel was kept and preserved by God. Special care and kindness were displayed towards them as a flock (Psa_80:1; Isa_63:11).
Hos_12:11. Certain places and certain altars do not palliate guilt, but testify against it, and prove all forms to be vain and deceitful. Considering the meanness of our origin, we should magnify God’s grace in present prosperity. The Atheist expects riches from diligence alone; the slothful without it; but the true Christian from the blessing of God with it. “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”
Hos_12:12-13. Scripture narratives are useful to remind of sin, warn us of danger, and urge us to God. They were written for our learning (Rom_15:4).
Hos_12:13. “By a prophet of the Lord.” God chooses the humblest instruments to do the mightiest works. “A prophet he is purposely called, and his name concealed:
1. To show that the work was done, not by might nor by power, but by God’s Spirit (Zec_4:6).
2. To show what God will do for his people by the prayers, and for the sake of his prophets, when they are most shiftless and hopeless.
3. To let this unworthy people see how much God had done for them once by a prophet, how little soever now they set by such.”
Heirs of grace may suffer humiliation and distress. In Christ the fullest measure was seen. His people must have their portion.
Hos_12:14. “Let us remember if we will not have God for our God in service, we must have him in spite of ourselves as our Lord to judge and punish us. Let us rather prove his love than his avenging justice” [Fausset].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
Hos_12:11-14. Vanity. In his religion. His holiness is vain conceit; his natural light, Egyptian darkness; his religious forms, “a vain show in the flesh.” In outward circumstances. His rank, a bauble; his beauty, a fading flower; his wealth but glittering dust. “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Jacob’s life. No kind of studious entertainment doth so generally delight as history, or the tradition of remarkable examples: even those who have an abhorrency or indisposition toward other studies are yet often much taken with historical narrations. And such are those which present to us the lives and examples of holy men, abounding with wonders of providence and grace: no attempts so gallant, no exploits so illustrious as those which have been achieved by the faith and patience, by the prudence and courage of the ancient saints; they do far surpass the most famous achievements of pagan heroes. No triumphs are comparable to those of piety; no trophies are so magnificent and durable as those which victorious faith erecteth; that history therefore which reports the res gestœ, the acts and sufferings of most pious men, must in reason be esteemed, not only the most useful, but also the most pleasant [Barrow].
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 On vv11, 13 General Information:
General Information:
Hosea the prophet is speaking.
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their altars will be like heaps of stone in the furrows of the fields
The altars where the people worshiped will be thrown down and become piles of stones. (See: Simile)
Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel worked in order to get a wife
Here "Jacob" and "Israel" refer to the same person. Jacob's name became Israel later in his life.
translationWords
evil
Gilead
sacrifice
altar
Jacob
Aram
flocks
ewe
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 On vv11, 13 12:11 Gilead and Gilgal were Israelite cities in which…
12:11 Gilead and Gilgal were Israelite cities in which Baal was worshiped instead of the Lord (see 4:15; 6:8; 9:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.