“Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’
Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.
Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness;
For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.
She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.’
For she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,’ and the animals of the field shall eat them.
I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says Yahweh.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–13 The Prophet having spoken of the people’s restoration, and…
The Prophet having spoken of the people’s restoration, and promised that God would some time receive into favour those whom he had before rejected, now exhorts the faithful mutually to stir up one another to receive this favour. He had previously mentioned a public proclamation; for it is not in the power of men to make themselves the children of God, but God himself freely adopts them. But now the mutual exhortation of which the Prophet speaks follows the proclamation; for God at the same time invites us to himself. After we are taught in common, it remains then that each one should extend his hand to his brethren, that we may thus with one consent be brought together to the Lord.
This then is what the Prophet means by saying, Say ye to your brethren, עמי omi, and to your sisters רוחמה ruchamah; that is, since I have promised to be propitious to you, you can now safely testify this to one another. We then see that this discourse is addressed to each of the faithful, that they may mutually confirm themselves in the faith, after the Lord shall offer them favour and reconciliation. Let us now 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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 Seeing that I have promised you deliverance, it remaineth…
Seeing that I have promised you deliverance, it remaineth that you encourage one another to embrace the same, considering that ye are my people on whom I will have mercy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Hos 2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and…
Hos 2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
Ver. 1. Say unto your brethren, Ammi] Besides the public preaching of this gracious promise, Hos 1:10, "There it shall be said unto them," &c., charge is here given that this be the subject of their more private discourse also: and that they that fear the Lord speak often one to another, We that were not a people, are now a people: we that had not obtained mercy, have now obtained mercy. Iubet per prophetam ne haec vox in ecclesia taceatur (Mercer). God commands by the prophet that these sweet words, Ammi, Ruhamah, be tossed and spoken of at every friendly meeting; I will not leave you fatherless: in me the fatherless findeth mercy: I will never leave thee, I will not, not, not forsake thee (ουδε, ου μη, Heb 13:5): so many "nots" there are in the original for more assurance. God would have such precious passages as these to be rehearsed (even in the "places of drawing water," Jdg 5:11, where the maids met to fetch water, or do other ordinary chars) for mutual encouragement, and for the praise of his name. Oh, the matchless mercy of our God! Oh, the never enough adored depth of his free grace! who would not fear thee, O King of nations! Jer 10:7; who would not be telling of thy goodness in the morning, and of thy faithfulness every night? Read that triumphant Psa 114:1-8, and be you ever chanting out (as they of old at their daily employments), aliquid Davidicum; so building up one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Think but on these two words in the text, and you cannot want matter. Is it nothing to be in covenant with God, and to be under mercy? Oh, blessed are the people "that have the Lord for their God," saith David, Psa 144:15. "But I obtained mercy," saith Paul, 1Ti 1:16, and that was his μεγαλαυχημα, his confident boasting, wherever he came, being a constant preacher of God’s free grace: (as was likewise Augustine, which makes him hardly censured by the Semipelagian Papists and Arminians as an enemy to nature, because so high a friend to grace). Neither is he forgetful to tell his Ephesians and others to whom he writeth, that they were once dead in sins and trespasses, but now "quickened together with Christ," &c. They were foreigners, but now fellow citizens with saints: they were darkness, but now light in the the Lord, and should therefore "walk as children of light," Eph 5:8, and talk of his praises, who had drawn them out of dreadful darkness into marvellous light. Come, saith David, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul, Psa 66:16. The Lord hath done great things for us, saith the Church, whereat we are glad, Psa 126:3. He which is mighty hath done to me great things: and holy is his name, saith the blessed Virgin, Luk 1:49. Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Say it, say it, to brethren and to sisters, upon every opportunity, and with the utmost importunity, that it may take impression upon their spirits, and not be as a seal set upon the water, nor as rain falling upon a rock that leaves no sign behind it. The Grecians being delivered out of servitude by Flaminius, the Roman general, rang out Soter, Soter, that is, Saviour, Saviour, with such a courage, that the very birds of the air, astonished thereat, fell to the earth. The people of Israel gave such a loud shout at the return of the ark, that the earth rang again. A drowning man, being pulled out of the water by Alphonsus, king of Aragon, and rescued from so great a death, cried out (as soon as he came again to himself) by way of thankfulness, Aragon, Aragon. Let us cry as loud Ammi, Ruhamah, hitherto God hath helped us, 1Sa 7:12, who were lately (with those Israelites in the wilderness) talking of our graves. Say therefore with the Psalmist, "Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living," &c., Psa 116:8.
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 vv1–13 In the two last verses of the former chapter,…
In the two last verses of the former chapter, the prophet did from God promise marvellous mercy to Judah and Israel, to that remnant of the seed of Abraham who returned out of captivity, and to the converted Gentiles; now in this verse he calls upon them to acknowledge the mercy, and to excite one another to mutual love and esteem.
Say; declare, own, or publish.
Read full note →
Ye; who of no people are made a people, who were once unpitied and unregarded, but now have obtained mercy; you that are the sons of the living God, whether Jews or Gentiles. You Christians, as the apostle applies the words, Rom 9:24,25; and so in the ant, type no doubt they are to be understood; but in the letter and type, the persons here mentioned are those who among this people were pious, feared God, and kept his law; some such there were among them.
Unto your brethren; to those of the ten tribes who are, and will be these forty years, your brethren.
Ammi; let them know that yet they are the people of God, and repentance may remedy all; they are still within the covenant of their father Abraham; if they will, as their father. walk with God, all shall be well.
And to your sisters, Ruhamah: in a decorum, to (what before was made an emblem of Israel) the prophet’s daughter, Lo-ruhamah, some are here directed to reason (as it is Hos 2:2) with her, i.e. with Israel, whose name is yet Ruhamah, and it may be so still, if Israel will retain it by returning to God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 The first words of this chapter some make the…
The first words of this chapter some make the close of the foregoing chapter, and add them to the promises which we have here of the great things God would do for them. When they shall have appointed Christ their head, and centered in him, then let them say to one another, with triumph and exultation (let the prophets say it to them, so the Chaldee - Comfort you, comfort you, my people, is now their commission), "say to them, Ammi, and Ruhamah; call them so again, for they shall no longer lie under the reproach and doom of Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah; they shall now be my people again, and shall obtain mercy." God's spiritual Israel, made up of Jews and Gentiles without distinction, shall call one another brethren and sisters, shall own one another for the people of God and beloved of him, and, for that reason, shall embrace one another, and stir up one another both to give thanks for and to walk worthy of this common salvation which they partake of. Or rather, because the following words seem to have a coherence with these, these also are designed for conviction and humiliation. The mother (Hos 2:2) seems to be the same with the brethren and sisters (Hos 2:1), the church of the ten tribes, the body of the people, who were brethren, and in a special manner with the heads and leaders, who were as the mother by whom the rest were brought up and nursed. But who are the children that must plead with their mother thus? Either, 1. The godly that were among them, that witnessed against the iniquities of the times, let them boldly go on to bear their testimony against the idolatries and gross corruptions that prevail among them. Let those that had not bowed the knee to Baal reason the case with those that had, and endeavour to convince them with such arguments as are here put into their mouths. Note, Private persons may, and ought in their places, to appear and plead against the public profanations of God's name and worship. Children may humbly and modestly argue with their parents when they do amiss: Plead with your mother, plead, as Jonathan with Saul concerning David. Or, 2. The sufferers among them, that shared in the calamities of the times, let them not complain of God, let them not quarrel with him, nor lay the blame on him, as if he had dealt hardly with them, and not like a tender father. No; let them plead with their mother, and lay the fault on her, where it ought to be laid; compare Isa 50:1. "For her transgressions is your mother put away; she may thank herself, and you may thank her for all your miseries." Let us see now how they must plead with her.
I. They must put here in mind of the relation wherein she had stood to God, the kindness he had had for her, the many favours he had bestowed upon her, and the further favours he had designed her. Let them tell their brethren and sisters that they had been Ammi and Ruhamah, that they had been God's people and vessels of his mercy, and might have been so still if it had not been their own fault, Hos 2:1. Note, Our relation to God and dependence on him are a great aggravation of our revolts from him and rebellions against him.
Read full note →
II. They must, in God's name, charge her with the violation of the marriage-covenant between her and God. Let them tell her that God does not look upon her as his wife, nor upon himself as her husband any longer. Tell her (Hos 2:2) that she is not my wife, neither am I her husband, that by her spiritual whoredom she has forfeited all the honour and comfort of her relation to God, and provoked him to give her a bill of divorce. Note, No consideration can be more powerful to awaken us to repentance than the provocation we have by sin given to God to disown and cast us off. It is time to look about us, and to think what course we must take, when God threatens to reject us; for woe unto us if he be not our husband. They must charge this home upon her (Hos 2:5): Their mother has played the harlot; their congregation has run a whoring after false prophets (so the Chaldee), or, rather, after idols, wherein they were encouraged by their false prophets; she that conceived them has done shamefully, in making and worshipping idols. An idol is called a shame (Hos 9:10) and idolatry is a shameful thing. It is not only an affront to God, but a reproach to men, to fall down to the stock of a tree, as the prophet speaks. Or it denotes that the sinner was shameless, impudent in sin, and could not blush; Jer 6:15. Or, She has made ashamed, has made all that see her ashamed of her; her own children are ashamed of their relation to her.
III. They must upbraid her with her horrid ingratitude to God her benefactor, in ascribing to her idols the glory of the gifts he had given her, and then giving that for a reason why she paid them the homage due to him only, Hos 2:5. In this she did shamefully indeed, that she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water. Observe here, 1. Her wicked resolution to persist in idolatry, notwithstanding all that God said, both by his prophets and by his providences, to draw her from it. She said, Whatever is offered to the contrary, I will go after my lovers, or those that cause me to love them, whom I cannot but be in love with. The Chaldee understands it of the nations whose alliance Israel courted and depended upon, who supplied them with what they needed. But it is rather to be understood of the idols they worshipped, to justify their love of which they called them their lovers. See who do shamefully; those that are wilful and resolute in sin, and those that openly profess and own their resolution to go on in it. See the folly of idolaters, to call those their lovers that had not so much as life; yet let us learn to call our God our lover; let us keep up good thoughts of him, and put a high value upon our interest in him and in his love. 2. The gross mistake upon which this resolution was grounded: "I will go after my lovers, because they give me my bread and my water, which are necessary to sustain the body, my wool and my flax, which are necessary to clothe the body, and pleasant things, my oil, and my drink, my liquors" (so the word is), "wine and strong drink." Note, (1.) The things of sense are the best things with carnal hearts, and the most powerful attractives, in pursuit of which they care not what they follow after. The God of Israel set before them his statutes and judgments (Deu 4:8), more to be desired than gold, and sweeter than honey (Psa 119:10), promised them his favour, which would put gladness in their hearts more than corn, wine, and oil (Psa 4:7); but they had no relish at all for these things. Whence they thought their oil and their drink came, thither they would return their best affections. O curvae in terram animae et coelestium inanes! - O degenerate minds, bending towards the earth, and devoid of every thing heavenly! (2.) It is a great abuse and injury to God, in pursuance of the pleasures and delights of sense to forsake him, who not only gives us better things, but gives us even those things too. The idolaters made Ceres the goddess of their corn, Bacchus the god of their wine, etc., and then foolishly fancied they had their corn and wine from these, forgetting the Lord their God, who both gave them that good land and gave them power to get wealth out of it. (3.) Many are hardened in sin by their worldly prosperity. They had an abundance of those things when they served their idols, and then imagined them to be given them by their idols, which kept them to their service; thus they argued (Jer 44:17, Jer 44:18), While we burnt incense to the queen of heaven we had plenty of victuals.
IV. They must persuade her to repent and reform. God will disown her if she persist in her whoredoms; let her therefore put away her whoredoms, Hos 2:2. Let her be convinced that it is possible for her to reform; the idols, dear as they are, may yet be parted with; and it will certainly be well with her if she do reform. Note, Our pleading with sinners must be to drive them to repentance, not to drive them to despair. Let her put away her whoredoms and her adulteries; the doubling of words to the same purport, and both plural, denotes the abundance of idolatries they were guilty of, all which must be abandoned ere God would be reconciled to them. Let her put them out of her sight, as detestable things which she cannot endure to look upon; let her say unto them, Get you hence, Isa 30:22. Let her put them from her face and from between her breasts, that is, let her not do as harlots use to do, that both discover their own wicked disposition, and allure others to wickedness, by painting their faces, and exposing their naked breasts, and adorning them; let her not thus, by annexing all possible gaieties and pleasures to the worship of idols, engage herself and allure others to it. let her put away all these. Every sinful course, persisted in, is an adulterous departure from God. And here we may see what it is truly to repent of it and turn from it. 1. True penitents will forsake both open sins, will put away not only the whoredoms that lie in sight, but those that lie in secret between their breasts, the sin that is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel. 2. They will both avoid the outward occasions of sin and mortify the inward disposition to it. Idolaters walked after their own eyes, which went a whoring after their idols (Eze 6:9, Deu 4:19), and therefore they must put them away out of their sight, lest they should be tempted to worship them. Look not upon the wine when it is red. But that is not enough: the axe must be laid to the root; the corrupt bent and inclination of the heart must be changed, and it must be put away from between the breasts, that Christ alone may have the innermost and uppermost place there. Sol 1:13.
V. They must show her the utter ruin that will certainly be the fatal consequence of her sin if she do not repent and reform (Hos 2:3): Lest I strip her naked. This comes in here not by way of sentence passed upon her, but by way of warning given to her, that she may prevent it: Let her put away her whoredoms, that I may not strip her naked (so it may be read), intimating that God waits to show mercy to sinners, if they would but qualify themselves for that mercy. It is here threatened that God will deal with her as the just and jealous husband at length does with an adulterous wife, that has filled his house with a spurious brood, and will not be reclaimed; he turns her and her children out of doors and sends them a begging; I will not have mercy upon her children (Hos 2:4); the particular persons that share in the calamity of the nation, and the rising generation, shall be ruined by it, for they are children of whoredoms, and keep up the vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers. Now it is here threatened that they shall be both stripped and starved. They thought their idols gave them their bread and their water, their wool and their flax; but God, by taking them away, will let them know that it was he that gave them. 1. She shall be stripped: Lest I strip her of all her ornaments which she is proud of, and with which she courts her lovers, strip her and set her as in the day that she was born, send her as naked out of the world as she came into it; this death does, Job 1:21. I will strip her, and so expose her to cold, and expose her to shame; and justly is she exposed to shame that did shamefully, Hos 2:5. The day when God brought them out of Egypt, where they were no better than slaves and beggars, was the day in which they were born; and God threatens to bring them back to as low and miserable a condition as he then found them in. Whatever they had that either gained them respect or screened them from contempt, among their neighbours, should be taken from them. See Eze 16:4, Eze 16:39. 2. She shall be starved, shall be deprived not only of her honours, but of her comforts and necessary supports. She shall be famished, shall be made as a wilderness and a dry land, and slain with thirst. She that boasted so much of her bread and water, her oil and her drinks, which her lovers had given her, shall not have so much as necessary food. The land shall not afford subsistence for the inhabitants, for want of the rain of heaven; or, if it do, it shall be taken from them by the enemy, so that the rightful owners shall perish for want of it. Some understand it thus: I will make her as she was in the wilderness, and set her as she was in the desert land, where she was sometimes ready to perish for thirst. So it explains the former part of the verse: I will set her as in the day that she was born; for it was in the vast howling wilderness that Israel was first formed into a people. They shall be in as deplorable a condition as their fathers were, whose carcases fell in the wilderness, and in this respect, worse, that then the children were reserved to be heirs of the land of promise, but now I will not have mercy upon her children, for their mother has played the harlot.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your…
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. These words are to be considered either in connection with the latter part of the preceding chapter, and as directed to the sons of the living God, who had not been, but now were, "Ammi", the Lord's people; and who had not, but now have, "Ruhamah", obtained mercy; which grace and mercy shown them, it became them to speak of one to another, to affect their hearts mutually with it, and to glorify God for it, Mal 3:16 as also to speak of it to their carnal relations, that so, if it was the will of God, it might be of use to them, to show them the state they were in, the danger of it, their need of the grace and mercy of God, and the hope there was by their own instance and example of obtaining it; see Rom 9:1, or as directed to the converted Jews that appointed Christ their Head, and believed in him; exhorting them to own the believing Gentiles as their brethren and sisters, since they were the spiritual seed of Abraham their father, and walked in the steps of his faith; and to call them Ammi and Ruhamah, since they, who were not the people of God, now were, and who had not obtained mercy, now have obtained mercy, Pe1 2:10, or else they may be considered as in connection with the following words,
plead with your mother; and that either as spoken to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were the people of God, retained the pure worship of God, and obtained mercy of the Lord, Hos 1:7,
Read full note →
"O ye Ammi and Ruhamah, that are the Lord's people, and he has had mercy on; stir up and exhort your brethren and sisters of the ten tribes, for so they were, notwithstanding their separation, Kg1 12:4, to contend with their mother, the body of the nation, about idolatry and departure from God;''
or as spoken to the godly among the ten tribes, who were the real people of God, and sharers in his grace and mercy; the remnant he reserved for himself, who had not bowed their knees to idols; or as the command of God by the prophet, to the people of Israel, to exhort one another to contend with their mother, who were, as yet, the Lord's people, had mercy shown them, when this prophecy was delivered out; though, in case of obstinacy and impenitence, they were threatened with a "Loammi" and "Loruhamah"; so Schmidt, who thinks that "ammi" and "ruhamah" are put by way of "apposition to your brethren and sisters", in which he seems to be right. Aben Ezra thinks the words are spoken ironically, like those in Ecc 11:9, and others, but without reason. The Targum is,
"O ye prophets, say to your brethren, and my people, and I will have mercy on your congregation;''
but whether the words are spoken to the Jewish converts who first believed in Christ, were his people, received grace and mercy from him, and stood in the relation of brethren and sisters to one another, both in a natural and spiritual sense, to stir up one another to reprove their mother, the Jewish church, for rejecting Christ, saying, as follows:
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 vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 The prophet charges the people with their idolatry, and…
The prophet charges the people with their idolatry, and threatens them with the judgments of God, ver. 1-13. Promises of mercy, ver. 14-23.
Ye - Who of no people are made a people, who were once unpitied, but now have obtained mercy. Your brethren -- to those of the ten tribes, who are your brethren. Ammi - Let them know that yet they are the people of God, they are still within the covenant of their father Abraham, if they will as their father, walk with God, all shall be well.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 The prophet exhorts his people to speak and to…
CHAPTER II
The prophet exhorts his people to speak and to act as became
Read full note →
those who obtained mercy of God; and to remonstrate strongly
against the conduct of their mother, (Samaria,) whose captivity
is threatened on account of her forsaking God, and ascribing
her prosperity to idols, 1-5.
As an amplification of this threatening, the prophet
ennumerates a series of afflictions which were to befall her
to bring her to a sense of her duty to God; and of her folly
in seeking after idols, and falsely ascribing to them the
blessings of Providence, 6-13.
After these corrections, however, God promises to conduct
Israel safely to their own land; perhaps alluding to their
restoration from the Babylonish captivity, for this prophecy
is supposed to have been delivered about two hundred and fifty
years prior to this event, 14, 15.
He farther engages to deal with them as a tender husband, and
not as a severe master, as were the idols which they served,
16, 17.
The rest of the chapter promises the people of God, the true
Israel, security from every evil, with the possession of every
blessing, under a new covenant; and that in terms full of
beauty, energy, and consolation. Heaven and earth, and whatever
they contain; all nature, and the God of nature, are
represented as uniting to make the people of God happy; so that
if they only breathe a wish, one part of nature, animate or
inanimate, echoes it to another, and all join in sweet harmony
to transmit it to the ear of the Almighty. "I will hear, saith
the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the
earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and
the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel."
NOTES ON CHAP. II
Verse 1. Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi] I prefer the interpretation of these proper names. Say ye unto your brethren, MY PEOPLE; and to your sisters, who have OBTAINED MERCY.
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 vv1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 Hos 2:1-2. Say to your brethren — Many interpreters…
Hos 2:1-2. Say to your brethren — Many interpreters consider this verse as being connected with the preceding chapter, thus: When that general restoration of the Jewish nation shall take place, you may change your language in speaking to those of your brethren and sisters whom I had before disowned, and you may call them Ammi, my people, and Ruhamah, she that hath obtained mercy. The prophet alludes to the 6th and 9th verses of the preceding chapter. Other expositors, however, with more apparent reason, consider this verse as connected with the following words, and translate it thus: “Ye that are my people, and have obtained mercy, speak to your brethren and sisters, and plead with your mother,” &c. “Although the Israelites, in the days of Hosea, were in general corrupt, and addicted to idolatry; yet there were among them, in the worst times, some who had not bowed the knee to Baal. These were always Ammi and Ruhamah; God’s own people, and a darling daughter. God commissions these faithful few to admonish the inhabitants of the land in general, of the dreadful judgments that would be brought upon them by the gross idolatry of the Jewish Church and nation;” and to reprove, and use their best endeavours to reform that general corruption which the nation had contracted by its idolatry; whereby the people had broken the covenant God had made with them, and had caused a separation, or divorce, between him and them. Let her therefore put away her whoredoms, &c. — Let her leave off her idolatries. These are often expressed in the Scriptures by the fondness and caresses which pass between unchaste lovers.
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 vv1–13 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi - that is,…
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi - that is, “My people, and to your sisters, Ruhamah,” i. e., “beloved or tenderly pitied.” The words form a climax of the love of God. First, the people scattered , unpitied , and disowned by God , is re-born of God; then it is declared to be in continued relation to God, “My people;” then to be the object of his yearning love. The words, “My people,” may be alike filled up, “ye are My people,” and “be ye My people.” They are words of hope in prophecy, “ye shall be again My people;” they become words of joy in each stage of fulfillment. They are words of mutual joy and gratulation, when obeyed; they are words of encouragement, until obeyed. God is reconciled to us, and willeth that we be reconciled to Him. Among those who already are God’s people, they are the voice of the joy of mutual love in the oneness of the Spirit of adoption; “we are His people;” to those without (whether the ten tribes, or the Jews of heretics,) they are the voice of those who know in whom they have believed, “Be ye also His people.” Despair of the salvation of none, but, with brotherly love, call them to repentance and salvation.”
This verse closes what went before, as God’s reversal of His own sentence, and anticipates what is to come (Hos 5:14 ff). God commands the prophets and all those who love Him, to appeal to those who forget Him, holding out to them the mercy in store for them also, if they will return to Him. He bids them not to despise those yet alien from Him, “but to treat as brethren and sisters, those whom God willeth to introduce into His house, and to call to the riches of His inheritance.”
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 Brethren, &c. Or, call your brethren, My people; and…
Brethren, &c. Or, call your brethren, My people; and your sister, Her that hath obtained mercy. This is connected with the latter end of the foregoing chapter, and relates to the converts of Israel. (Challoner) --- I seemed to have abandoned them at the great day of carnage; (Haydock) but I will still receive (Calmet) this portion of my people, as well as Juda. (Haydock) --- Disdain not to call them brethren. More of the ten tribes than of the others embraced the faith of Christ, and more Gentiles than Jews became converts. (Worthington)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v4 Fuller Discourse of Jehovah Concerning His Adulterous Spouse, Israel
Fuller Discourse of Jehovah Concerning His Adulterous Spouse, Israel
Hos_2:4-23
Read full note →
A. Complaint and Threatening of Punishment
Hos_2:4-15
4 Plead with your mother, plead!
For she is not my wife
And I am not her husband,
That she put away her whoredom from before her
And her adultery from between her breasts.
5 Lest I strip her naked,
And place her as (she was in) the day of her birth,
And make her like the wilderness,
And set her (so as to be) like a barren land,
And slay her with hunger.
6 And on her children I will not have mercy,
For they are children of whoredom
7 Because their mother has committed whoredom
And she that bore them has caused shame,
Because she said: I will go after my lovers,
Who furnished my bread and my water,
My wool and my flax,
My oil and my (pleasant) drinks.
8 Therefore behold I am hedging up thy way with thorns,
And will wall up a wall [raise a wall before her ]
And she will not find her paths.
9 And she will pursue her lovers and not overtake them
And will seek them and not find;
And she will say: I will go and return to my former husband,
For (it was) better with me then than now.
10 And she did not know that I gave her
The corn and the wine and the oil,
And that I increased for her silver and gold,
(Which) they used for Baal.
11 Therefore will I take back my corn in its time
And my wine in its season,
And snatch away my wool and my flax
(Which was) to cover her nakedness,
12 And then will I uncover her shame
In the eyes of her lovers,
And none will deliver her from my hands.
13 And I will bring to an end all her joy;
Her feast-making, her new-moons, her sabbaths,
And all her festivals.
14 And will lay waste her vine and her fig tree
Of which she said: they are my reward
Which my lovers gave to me:
And will make her a forest,
And the beast of the field will devour her.
15 And I will visit upon her the days of the Baals;
To which she burnt incense,
And (then) put on her ring and her jewels,
And went after her lovers,
And forgot me, saith Jehovah.
B. The Punishment leads to Conversion, and thus to the glorious Renewal of the Marriage Contract between Jehovah and Israel
Hos_2:16-23
16 Therefore, behold, I am alluring her,
And will lead her into the wilderness
And speak unto her heart [speak with comfort ].
17 And I will give her her 1vineyards from thence,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope,
And she will answer then as in the days of her youth,
As in the day of her coming up from the land of Egypt.
18 And it will be in that day, saith2 the Lord,
Thou wilt call: My husband,
And thou wilt no more call me: My Baal.
19 And I will remove the names of the Baals3 from her mouth,
And they shall no more be remembered by their name,
20 And I will make for them in that day a covenant
With the beast of the4 field,
And with the birds of heaven,
And the creeping things of the earth,
And bow and sword and war will I destroy from the land,
And make them dwell in security.
21 And I will betroth thee to me for ever,
And betroth thee to me in righteousness5 and justice,
And in mercy and in compassion;
22 And betroth thee to me in faithfulness,
And thou shalt know Jehovah.
23 And it will be in that day,
I will answer, saith the Lord,
Will answer the heavens,
And they will answer the earth,
24 And the earth will answer the corn and the wine and the oil,
And they will answer Jezreel [God’s sowing ]
25 And I will sow her for myself in the land,
And favor “Unfavored,”
And say to “Not-my-people”:
“Thou art my people,”
And they shall say: “My God.”
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This chapter is the essential supplement to chap. 1. It contains, in a more discursive style, an exposition, justifying and elucidating that which in chap. 1 was presented only as a theme, and in some parts even enigmatically in its brief sentences. The complaint and threatening of destroying judgments were uttered without any preparation; and still more suddenly were they followed immediately by as glorious an announcement of salvation. Chap. 1 must thus excite inquiries, not so much through the symbolical representation of the first part, as by these unexpected utterances, inquiries which demand an answer. Such answer is given by the Lord Himself in Hos_2:4 ff., in a longer discourse. This is now altogether based upon the conception of Israel as an unchaste wife, which was only indicated in chap. 1 and then disappeared, and is developed in two sections, of threatening and of promise. A complaint is first raised against the unchaste wife, and then the course of punishment is figuratively described, which, however, is seen to be really a chastening with the view to conversion from idolatry. This conversion itself is promised, and the way thus prepared for the announcement of salvation. Israel, returning as penitently as a wife to her husband, finds mercy with God. So the close, Hos_2:23 f., returns expressly to chap. 1–2:3, and the discourse is thus shown to be most closely connected with that section.
The complaint and announcement of punishment occupy Hos_2:4-15. The discourse takes a turn with Hos_2:16. The declaration of deliverance is introduced by the announcement of conversion, and from Hos_2:20 onwards becomes a glorious promise.
A. Hos_2:4-15. Complaint, and Announcement of Punishment.
Hos_2:4-6. Plead with your mother—for they are children of whoredom. The person who makes the demand is naturally Jehovah. Those who are addressed are not the children of the Prophet, Hos_1:4 ff. (Kurtz), but the children of the adulterous spouse, Israel (and therefore those who are designated children of whoredom, Hos_1:2). These children are distinguished ideally from their mother, because Israel is from one point of view regarded as the spouse. Israel viewed as a unit is the mother: the children then represent the individual Israelites (the mother can not be conceived as existing without the children). The children are now to plead with their mother. But this does not mean that a part of Israel did not serve idols, so that the better disposed among the people would be addressed (Keil, et al.). This would conflict with what has been said of the relation between the mother and the children. The children are conceived of as those who have to dread misfortune on account of the prevailing “whoredom.” They, in fact, however, represent just what the mother does; they are to suffer the same punishment with her, though in Hos_2:6 the punishment is as yet only mentioned expressly as that about to fall upon the children. But the distinction made between the mother and the children is only a rhetorical mode of presentation resorted to for the purpose of casting upon the mother, through the children, the reproach that she by her conduct was bringing misfortune upon them, and thus persuading her to abandon her lewdness. Not as though the children had acted differently from the mother, but now when the punishment is to be presented, the complaint is naturally directed against the latter. For if the children have sinned, they have followed their mother in doing so. She is the really guilty one in this punishment. The children are comparatively innocent, and have been only seduced, and yet they must suffer like their mother! And then they must participate in the sufferings which the mother endures for her own sins. They are therefore the ones who should be represented as pleading with the mother. This mode of representation is not pursued beyond the beginning of the chapter. For she is not my wife, expresses well the sin of the mother. It is as though Jehovah had said: “It is her sin that she deports herself as one who could not be my wife, and whose husband I could not be, and I cannot look upon myself any more as her husband.” The next member of the verse shows the cause of this feeling, for it is the conduct of the mother that gives occasion to the children to upbraid her. The punishment would be: I know her no longer as my wife, and will be her husband no longer. But punishment is not introduced before Hos_2:5—ותָסֵר. The רִיב involves the demand to cease from the present conduct. This conduct is “whoredom,” but in the case of a wife it is also more, it is “adultery.” From her face—from between her breasts. The whoredom (idolatry) of Israel is thus not secret, but is done openly. Israel is like a public barefaced whore, who displays her profession in her face and (bared) breasts.
Hos_2:5. The demand is supported by calling attention to the punishment. Lest I strip her naked. This is perhaps connected with the foregoing so as to=as a punishment for the shameless exposure of her person which she wantonly practices, strip her bare in a way she does not like and of which she would be ashamed. Divested of the figure the expression would mean: lest I take from her everything that I have given her and reduce her to the condition in which she was before I delivered her and made her what she now is (comp. Eze_16:4 ff.) The prophet now turns to this earlier condition with the words: as in the day of her birth. Primarily this is an image of nakedness=like a new-born child, but not simply =without clothing, but=divested of everything, stripped of all she can call her own. Thus was Israel on the day of its birth. This birth took place when Israel was chosen to be the people of God. According to Hos_11:1, this was done in Egypt. Israel was there naked, for it dwelt as an oppressed nation of slaves without a country. And make her like a wilderness, that is, reduce her to a situation where the necessaries of life are wanting as they are to those in a desert, so that they die of hunger; and like a parched land, that is, a place in which there is no water, so that she may “die of thirst.” This dying of thirst is only mentioned because her situation is compared to a desert; and the general sense is=reduce her to a situation of utter destitution from a condition of great abundance. A reference to Israel’s sojourn in the desert cannot be well disproved (as by Keil) along with the mention of the day of her birth. Israel, it is true, was supplied with food and water by God. But the desert itself had neither food nor drink, as Israel felt only too keenly. And that desert is an image of the condition to which Israel is to be reduced by God.
Hos_2:6. And will not have compassion upon her children. This verse is in sense still dependent upon פֶּן of Hos_2:5. The want of compassion is a consequence of the conduct of the mother, but may be turned away by conversion. Even the children shall share the same lot, that is, all individually; none are to suppose that they shall escape punishment,—for they are children of whoredom. Because they are begotten of whoredom and also witnesses of it, the Lord who is to punish his adulterous spouse cannot endure them. Still the question of Hos_1:2 repeats itself here, whether בְּנֵי זְנ׳ are not rather: children who commit whoredom. This is most natural, for the children are in fact identical with the mother.
Hos_2:7-9. Because their mother hath practiced whoredom—it was better with me then than now. The last explanation given of בְּנֵי זְ׳ would certainly be incorrect if Hos_2:7 were an explanation of Hos_2:6 b = They are children of whoredom, for their mother, etc. But such an explanation, continued too in the parallelism (Hos_2:7 a, and b), would make the sense extremely prolix. The same remark would apply if the verse were coördinate to Hos_2:6 b, and supported it along with Hos_2:6 a. Besides, this expression concerning the mother’s sin would not be appropriate as justifying the punishment threatened against the children. The solution is to be found in the wider scope of Hos_2:7. For here the thought is so enlarged that it cannot be regarded simply as an explanation of Hos_2:6, and at the same time coördinate to the second member of that verse. Such a view supposes that if that verse is an explanation, Hos_2:7 must be so also. The thought is, however, evidently an independent one. Nor does it refer backwards, but, as its contents show, it reaches forward and is therefore rather to be connected with Hos_2:8-9. (So Meier; even the Vulgate and Luther have detached it from Hos_2:6.) [So also Henderson, and Cowles in his exposition though not in his translation.—M.]—הוֹבִישָׁה here not=to become a disgrace, but=to commit shame. Luther: conduct herself shamefully.—Who gave my bread, etc.=food, clothing, and the enjoyments of life (Keil), comp. Jer_44:17 ff. We may refer this to a condition of things which actually prevailed in Israel (comp. also Hos_2:16). If it did exist along with idolatry, it would be naturally suggested that it was due to the idols. In the figurative representation it is the reward which the adulteress received from her paramours (comp. Hos_2:14). [Keil: “This delusive idea entertained by the wife arose from the sight of the heathen nations round about, who were rich and mighty, and attributed this to their gods.”—M.]
Hos_2:8. Therefore behold, I hedge up her way with thorns. The hedging up of the way, strengthened in the parallel member by the figure of raising up a wall, means in general to place an obstacle in the way, to set up a wall of separation, and that evidently between the wife and the paramours, Israel and the idols, so that the alliance between them will be dissolved. This is shown further by the words: and she will not find the path to them, and also in Hos_2:9. This causa dirimens is here intentionally referred to only in a general way, in a sort of enigmatical allusion. The “that” is expressed only once with its immediate sequence in Hos_2:9. The “how” does not appear till Hos_2:11 ff. It is already hinted at in the conclusion of Hos_2:9. It is the feeling of distress in strong contrast to the situation just extolled so highly as the gift of the idols. This privation must itself excite doubts as to the power of the idols, and still more must their impotence in the midst of her distress. Israel would indeed become at first more ardent in its worship of idols; to “pursue” after them, etc., the more their prosperity was regarded as their gift, the more would they be missed. But “she will not reach them and will not find them.” It is represented, as though outwardly it were no longer possible to hold intercouse with the idols. This mode of representation, however, is connected only with the image of raising a hedge, etc., something which effects an external separation. But the expression is very suitable, especially as the idols denoted by the paramours, prove themselves to be a mere phantom, dead nothings, just when men turn to them for help. They are therefore really not found. Such experience of the nothingness of idols then awakens again a longing after Jehovah as the One, in whom alone help is to be found, a longing after the good bestowed by Him upon his people. The discourse here is just ready to pass over into the thought that this punishment is a chastening to lead to conversion (Hos_2:16 ff.), but upon the mention of former prosperity, it turns again to complaint, in order to complete the announcement of the punishment merited by the ungrateful forgetfulness of the giver of such prosperity. This is continued till Hos_2:15. [Hengstenberg: “There can be no doubt, that by the hedging and walling about, severe sufferings are intended, by which the people are encompassed, straitened, and hindered in every free movement. For sufferings appear constantly as the specific against Israel’s apostasy from God.… We can by no means think of an external obstacle. Outwardly there was, during the exile, and in the midst of idolatrous nations, a stronger temptation to idolatry than they had in their native land. Hence we can think of an internal obstacle only, and then again, only of an absolute incapacity of the idols to grant to the people consolation and relief in their sufferings. If this incapacity is first ascertained by experience, men lose their confidence in them, and seek help where alone it is to found.”—M.]
Hos_2:10-12. She knew not, etc. The reference is to Hos_2:7. Israel had shamefully ascribed to the idols what they owed to God. That God was the Giver they must have been inwardly conscious, in fact could have known it from the Law; but they ignored this truth, denied it, and naturally so, because they had departed from their God. The abundance of the natural productions of the country then led to an abundance of silver and gold, but—cutting reproach—that which they owed to God עָשוּ לַבַּעַל, probably; they employed it for Baal, not: they made it a Baal, as the article especially shows. “Employed,” partly in making idol images, partly in the service of idols. Baal may be taken here for idols generally, since the actual Baal-worship was done away with by Jehu, though not entirely, comp. 2Ki_13:6 (Keil).
Hos_2:11. Now the punishment is expressed which was in Hos_2:8-9, only hinted at, the withdrawal of the good things which had been so enjoyed. My corn = the corn which they received from me. In its time, that is, the season when corn and wine are expected. Hence the absence of them was the more distressing, but also more significant and striking, showing itself to be a punishment from God. Since He was not acknowledged as the Giver when He gave them, He will manifest Himself more clearly as such in taking them away. Which was to cover her nakedness. The resulting want should be complete, its consequence ignominious bareness=utter destitution. And then will I uncover her shame. = her lovers (idols) shall also look upon her nakedness to her disgrace. She would become so miserable, that even they shall despise her, though she once held herself so highly with them.
Hos_2:13-15. And I will bring to an end all her joy, etc. A still more definite indication of the punishment before threatened. All joy must cease. But joy culminates, and has its purest expression in the festivals, the yearly feasts, strictly speaking. חַג. Upon these follows the monthly feast, that of the new moon, and the weekly one, that of the Sabbath. כָל־מוֹעֲדָהּ then gathers all these up in one general expression. Even during the prevalence of idolatry the feast-days probably remained outwardly the same as before.
Hos_2:14. The devastation mentioned here is probably intended to follow up the cessation of joy; for the vine and the fig tree are the finest productions of Canaan, not necessary to the support of life, but affording the choicest delicacies (comp. Joe_1:7-12). [Henderson: “These nouns are to be taken as collectives, or rather, as Horsley suggests, as plantations of vines and fig trees. These should be left uncultivated on the removal of the inhabitants to a foreign region, comp. Isa_5:6; Isa_7:23-24.—M.]
Hos_2:15. And will visit upon her the days of Baal, that is, the feast-days just mentioned, for they were celebrated in honor of Baal, and not of Jehovah. And put on her ring, etc. This is an expression which in its strictness belongs only to the image; for Israel is compared to a coquettish prostitute, who is in the habit of thus adorning herself. Yet there may be allusion to the festal attire worn at the idol-feasts. And forgot me. A sharp and mournful contrast to the vain adornments of the prostitute. For the sake of the paramours she was never weary of decking herself out; but no more thought of Jehovah. It is plain how completely this whole threatening was fulfilled by the Assyrian invasion. Yet it is to be observed that this itself is not threatened here, and still less banishment. In general, no enemy is yet named, at least none definitely, but only the laying waste of the land. [Henderson: “Their entirely abandoning themselves to the service of idols, and their dereliction from the God of their fathers, are brought forward at the conclusion of this description of their conduct, in order to heighten the aggravation of their guilt, and render the announcement of the kindly disposition of Jehovah toward them, at the beginning of the following verse, the more surprising.”—M.]
B. Announcement of the Conversion of Israel and the beneficent Renewal of the Covenant.
Hos_2:16-19. Therefore behold I will allure her, etc. לָכֵן. We have had this word twice already in a similar construction (Hos_2:8; Hos_2:11) with the sense: because Israel has transgressed, therefore God will punish them. לכן also here naturally means: therefore. Every other explanation, such as veruntamen, or profecto, is arbitrary, and has arisen from the embarrassment occasioned by the difficulty which a “therefore” causes in this connection; for it is not clear from what a conclusion is drawn, whether from their sin or from their punishment or from their sudden desire to return (Hos_2:9). Nor is it clear what conclusion is drawn, whether punishment or a display of love. As regards the first question it is to be observed that the mention of Israel’s sin immediately precedes (Hos_2:15 at the end), while their punishment had been previously described, whose converting influence Hos_2:9 had already indicated. The expression: I will allure her, might certainly form a contrast to the words: she forgot me=while she forgets me, I am mindful of her and recall her to my thoughts. But the whole can hardly be merely an inference from what is said at the close of Hos_2:15, for the reference to the sin is there only incidental and subordinate to the description of the punishment. לכן therefore draws an inference not from Israel’s sin in itself, but from that sin as being punished, and punished not without severity, as was before plainly stated. Hence we find that לכן introduces a conclusion drawn from the contents of the whole preceding section=therefore because Israel has been punished for her sin and forgetfulness of me, and has been so reduced to a condition of distress that she longs after happiness in communion with me, I will allure her, etc. This reference to the whole of the preceding is certainly justified in our verse, since the discourse evidently takes here a new direction. if this is the sense of לכן, the conclusion which is drawn is not an announcement of punishment, against which the expression, “I will allure her” is decisive, but an exhibition of love, and yet such a display as is virtually determined by the sin that is punished, and which is connected immediately with the punishment, in order to foster those first motions of longing into a steadfast resolution to return. [Pocock, Newcome, Noyes, and Henderson translate: nevertheless, notwithstanding. They failed to discern the inner connection between the passages divided by this particle, which, in fact, never has the meaning they assign to it. Cowles reaches the right conclusion, though not upon exegetical grounds: “Some have found a difficulty here, inasmuch as the grievous sins of Israel seem to be no natural reason for giving the blessings hereafter promised. But the reasons, viewed fundamentally, lie deeper than the sins of Israel, even in God’s covenant love and faithfulness. He cannot bear that his own Israel should sink hopelessly under her sins into ruin. Therefore his pity moves Him to discipline and to mercy.” So also Pusey with most of the German Expositors—M.] And lead her into the desert: not as a punishment, for the allusion is to the leading of the children of Israel into the desert by Moses (comp. Hos_2:17). But this was really a deliverance, namely, from the afflictions of Egypt. At first it is such only negatively, implying that they will no longer continue in such distress. They are not yet in Canaan. Even the desert brought want and destitution with it: and this is brought first into view here. In so far the situation indicated by the leading into the desert coincides actually and outwardly with the punishment by affliction and calamity pictured in Hos_2:11 (the “wilderness” is the realization of that which is threatened in Hos_2:11 ff.). But this situation is presented here also under another point of view, namely (as being compared with the wanderers in the desert under Moses), that of a situation while surrounded with affliction yet leading in truth to deliverance, and the idea of punishment is thereby converted into that of chastisement. For the destitution felt in the desert meant here had its definite disciplinary aim,—to shut up the people to the discovery of their need of help, and to lead them to faith in God through the help and gracious guidance which they then experienced. Thus they in the desert, even though encompassed with need, were still upon the way to Canaan, the land of blessings, and salvation. This is made plain from what follows: And speak to her heart = comfort her (comp. e. g.Gen_34:3; Gen_50:21; Isa_40:2). These words imply an inward consolation by manifestations of love which immediately follow—the blessings that were withdrawn are again supplied.
Hos_2:17. And I will give her her vineyards from thence = from the desert, so that they, as soon as they shall have passed the limits of Canaan, shall receive them, that is, the vineyards which Israel once possessed but had lost (Hos_2:14), therefore: her vineyards. What happened once is a type of that which shall happen again. And the Valley of Achor for a door of hope. The Valley of Achor here comes into view: (1) on account of its appellative signification: valley of trouble, affliction (Isa_7:25). This shall be made a gate of hope (a valley=a natural gate): therefore a transformation of mourning into joy; (2) but also on account of its position near the border of Canaan. For Israel is conceived of as marching out of the desert into Canaan. It remains a question whether the occasion of the name is also to be taken into account. In this valley the anger of God was appeased by the stoning of Achan, and was removed from Israel to give place to renewed favor. Through that which then happened to Achan, this valley became a door of hope to Israel, which lay exposed to the anger of God. And this again sets forth the thought that punishment, affliction, shall become to them the way to renewed favor. The conception is more profound than if it merely set forth a change from one situation to another. But the image and the thing represented are not exact counterparts. Here Israel is the party who is punished and is again to find favor. But there Israel finds favor through the punishment of a single individual. [Hengstenberg: “The people when they entered into Canaan were immediately deprived of the favor of God by the transgression of an individual—Achan,—which was only a single fruit from the tree of the sin which was common to all. But God himself in his mercy made known the means by which his lost favor might be regained; and thus the place which seemed to be the door of destruction became the door of hope.… This particular dealing of God, however, is based upon his nature, and must therefore repeat itself when Israel again comes into similar circumstances.”—M.]
And she shall shout aloud thither. The Lord comes to meet Israel (comp. Hos_2:16 : shall comfort her); and Israel cries out towards the plaee whence he comes forth, looking back to the מִשָׁם. The meaning is, that with thankful acknowledgments she accepts these tokens of his love; not only receives them but answers to them by suitable conduct. Others suppose that עָנָה means here: to be afflicted, or to be humbled. But such a sense is unsuitable in this verse. Besides, שָׁמָּה would be equal to simple שָׁם. [The view given above as to the meaning of this clause, and adopted by most of the German expositors, is defended at length by Hengstenberg, and is probably the correct one. All the English expositors, on the other hand, follow the old explanation which translates the verb: to sing, and see a special allusion to the song of Miriam and the Israelites after the crossing of the Red Sea. The chief arguments in favor of the former view are, (1.) The greater fitness of the idea of “answering,” as exhibiting a change of character in the Israelites and their readiness to turn to God. Singing would merely indicate that their distress was removed, which was not the ultimate object of God’s dealing with them. (2.) The meaning, “answering,” is the leading usage of the Kal; that of singing is proper to the Piel. (3.) שָׁמָּה ought to be rendered “thither,” which suits the idea of answering, especially as explained above, but not that of singing.—M.] As on the day, etc. Perhaps there is an allusion here to the song of Moses (Exodus 15), in which Israel gave a grateful answer to the deliverance which God had wrought for them. ענה would then be rendered directly: sing. So the Vulgate and Luther (comp. 1Sa_18:7; 1Sa_21:11; 1Sa_29:5, to strike up a responsive song). Yet the general signification is probably to be preferred.
Hos_2:18 is then attached to this ענה. My husband. That is, she will recognize in Jehovah her true spouse, regard Baal no longer as combined with God, thus (by a convenient escamotage so natural to the human heart which becomes inwardly apostate from God) to all appearance calling upon Jehovah, but really putting Baal in his place and thus dispossessing Him.
Hos_2:19. And I will remove the name of Baal from her mouth = I will so act that thou shalt not take the name of the idols into thy mouth any longer, that is, shalt not honor them (for as long as they are honored they are taken into the mouth, are thought of), but wilt depart from them entirely, have nothing more to do with them. The promise is a literal fulfillment of Exo_23:13; (comp. also Zec_13:2), and expressed in the same words.
Hos_2:20-22. And I will mate a covenant for them in that day, etc. A covenant for them, in their interest, so that they shall suffer no injury. Observe here how the figure of the woman as addressed is here departed from, only to be returned to in the next verse. The covenant with the wild beasts lays upon them the obligation not to injure mankind, and especially not to lay waste the land. That punishment was threatened for the immediate future (comp Hos_2:14). Just for that reason it is now promised to the converted and favored people that they shall be defended from it. [Keil: “The three classes of animals that are dangerous to men are mentioned here, as in Gen_9:2. Beasts of the field as distinguished from the domestic animals (behemoth are beasts that live in freedom in the fields, either wild beasts, or game that devours or injures the fruits of the field). By the fowls of heaven, we are to understand chiefly the birds of prey. Remes does not mean reptiles, but active creatures, the smaller animals of the earth which move about swiftly.”—M.] And I will break bow and sword and war. To break the weapons of war means to cause war to cease forever. This is expressly intimated in what is attached here by a zeugma. To break war in pieces,—to break bow and sword, and so to put an end to war. The whole is the fulfillment of Lev_26:3 ff.; comp. Isa_2:4; Isa_11:6 ff; Isa_35:9; Zec_9:10; Eze_34:25 ff. And not merely will a condition of security and peace be afforded, but also that after which Israel longs (Hos_2:18) will be given, namely, intercourse with God. Upon this alone is Israel’s renewed prosperity based.
And I will betroth thee to me forever. A new marriage-contract is to be signed. Israel now converted, becomes altogether different, is regarded again as an unstained virgin, and is betrothed by God to Himself. What formerly existed, that she was once a faithless spouse, is left quite out of sight. For אֵרֵשׂ means: to woo a maiden, to betroth her. The words, “I will betroth her,” are thrice repeated, to take all doubt away from the statement. This covenant is now to last forever without any interruption—in righteousness and justice, in mercy and compassion. We are evidently to understand here the righteousness which is displayed in Jehovah’s appearing to favor his people and defending their cause against their enemies, from whose power he delivers them. Such righteousness and judgment are, with relation to the enemies, only negative, that is, they are displayed in punishing them; but, with relation to God’s people, positive, so that righteousness really bears the sense of salvation, deliverance. In so far Luther is right, when he holds that such righteousness is the imputed righteousness of Christ. For there is certainly presented the notion of God’s intervention to bestow favor upon man, and therefore of an act of justification, only not at first as connected with the accusings of conscience by reason of guilt, but in relation to God’s punitive judgments against sin. These, so to speak, lose the right to destroy God’s people any longer, because they are accepted by Him as converted. Keil explains the words as meaning, the righteous judgment by which God purifies his people, in order to eradicate everything which, on the side of the Church, could do prejudice to the covenant. But the discourse has already passed beyond this. The judgment has been already inflicted, and we are now upon the ground of the complete promises of salvation, when God no more appears against his people, but interferes in their behalf in accordance with the purification which has been effected. The disposition of mind in God represented by this righteousness and judgment is still further brought out by the two words: in mercy and compassion. Every idea of an intervention of God in his people’s behalf upon the ground of their merit is thus excluded. What God exercises towards them is purely favor and compassion.
Hos_2:22. But these shall never cease. Hence the addition: in faithfulness. Only thus does this engagement receive the pledge of its eternal duration, while by the preceding generally the possibility of its ratification is set forth. Righteousness and judgment, favor and compassion, are the conditio sine qua non and causa efficiens; faithfulness is the essential modus of the engagement. The end then is: And thou shalt know Jehovah. No interruption of such relation shall ever intervene between Jehovah and Israel; upon the establishment of such intercourse, a true knowledge of God will be imparted. This naturally does not mean a mere cognition of God, least of all a mere logical conception of Him,—in general, not a mere intellectual relation to Him based upon the operations of the understanding, but a personal living relation, that deeper notion which is certainly sometimes conveyed by יָדַע.
Hos_2:23-23. And it will be on that day that I will answer, etc. The consequence of the covenant newly ratified is the readiness of God to bless his people most richly. The betrothal having been accomplished, the marriage presents are not wanting, and heaven and earth, standing in the service of the bridegroom and husband, must contribute their share. The heavens, etc., in a descending series, are represented as earnestly asking the personified objects above them respectively whether the blessing which they expect is to be dispensed. The heavens ask Jehovah, the earth the heavens, etc., or they look towards them with longing. And now this questioning, this earnest request (in the time of Israel’s rejection) is “answered” cordially and assuringly. In how far, however, this original sense of ענה is carried out, or whether it does not pass over into the signification of our “agree with”=comply, listen to, cannot be definitely shown. It is, however, in accordance with the largely poetical conception to assume here a strict prosopopœia. The first object of the representation is Jehovah; therefore the sense of the whole naturally is, that Jehovah, upon whom all blessing depends, will confer upon his Church the blessings He had withdrawn from it (comp. Deu_28:12 and the contrast, Deu_28:23 f.; Lev_26:19). [Keil: “By prosopopæia the prophet represents the heavens as praying to God, to allow it to give to the earth that which will insure its fertility, whereupon the heavens fulfill the desires of the earth, and the earth yields its produce to the nation.” Umbreit: “It is as though we heard the exalted harmonies of the united powers of creation sending forth their notes as they are sustained and moved by the eternal key-note of the creative and moulding Spirit.” Henderson compares the personification in Tibullus, I., Eleg. vii. 25. The extreme beauty of the figure here has often been praised.—M.] Will answer Jezreel. The name Jezreel is here used unexpectedly instead of Israel. The same name which symbolized the judgment upon Israel (Hos_1:4) is here employed directly to designate the favored people according to its appellative significance: God will sow, especially as in Hos_2:2 the hope of victory was connected with Jezreel. Israel appears as the sowing of God, because planted anew by divine grace, as Hosea 2:25 shows immediately. Thus the first name of evil omen is taken away and converted into its opposite. The same is true of the other two names. Israel will again be called “Favored,” and the “People of God,” because it is his. It is therefore said, beautifully completing the picture, that the people again know God as their God. Thus God’s renewed favor, and the people’s new heart, go hand in hand. On the fulfillment of the promise, see the Doctrinal Section, No. 4.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The whole tenor of our chapter presupposes that Jehovah’s relation to Israel as his people is compared to a marriage. If we seek the tertium comparationis in this comparison, it is manifest upon a general view, that everything of an accidental or external nature is denied of this relation, that it is presented as a union inward, sacred, and indissoluble, involving indefeasible rights and obligations. But, more especially, there are two elements entering into the nature of marriage, which form the points of comparison, namely, love, by which the husband is bound to the wife, and its correlative the requirement of fidelity, or of exclusive reciprocal affection, which He makes of her. Hence the relation of Jehovah to his people is compared to a marriage because his love to Israel is as strong and intimate as that of a husband to his wife. As the husband chooses the wife from love, and perhaps, urged by love, takes a poor maiden and raises her to himself, and in his married life attests his affection by being her protector and benefactor who cannot show her too many evidences of his devotion, so is it with Jehovah towards his people (comp. Hosea 2:10, 23, 24). Such love on the part of the husband must have as its correlative on the part of the wife, fidelity, undivided, exclusive affection. As certainly as the husband should expect this fidelity from his wife, so certainly shall Jehovah expect it from Israel; as strongly as the wife is bound to love him to the exclusion of all others, and as she does basely violate this duty by attaching herself to another, the same is true of the relation of Israel, God’s people, to Jehovah. But if unfaithfulness on the part of the wife is a violation of duty, it is also worthy of punishment. And if the punishment (rejection) of an unfaithful, adulterous wife is justifiable, so also is the punishment (rejection) of God’s faithless people. But this is only a chastisement wrung from love, and the source of deep anguish to the loving husband. Therefore the husband who loves his wife truly, with a love answering to the idea of marriage, while angry at her infidelity and employing the most severe means to punish it, only does so in order if possible to bring her back to her duty and as the only way to continue the alliance. Thus is it with Jehovah towards Israel. As his love has established the covenant with Israel, and displayed itself in it, so does it seek with its whole strength to preserve it unbroken through all interruptions,—in other words, to restore it.
2. The exhibition of God’s relation to his people under the figure of a marriage permits us, on the other hand, to draw an inference as to the nature of the marriage itself. Such an exalted and sacred relation could only be thus represented under an exalted view of marriage. The lively, strong, unchangeable love of God to his people, and the demand of an unchangeable fidelity answering to such love, and turning aside to no other object, is the subject of the representation. This marriage is necessarily conceived of as a relation constituted by such love on the part of the husband and such fidelity on the part of the wife. Without these it is not contracted; where these are wanting or cease to exist, it is shaken to its foundation. The husband cleaves in love to his wife and to none other: true marriage is in its very nature monogamic; the wife must in fidelity belong to this husband and to none other.
How severe is thus the condemnation of all actual adultery, and of all unchastity as the source of adultery, as read in the strong complaints against Israel as the unfaithful wife! What a spirit of moral purity and of chastity is expressed here! We find here already just the view of marriage, and, on the other side, of adultery and whoredom, which meets us in the New Testament, e. g., in the writings of Paul. The prophet know no better image than that of marriage to set forth the depth and sacredness of Jehovah’s relation to Israel, and the Apostle knows no better image than the relation of Christ to his Church to set forth the depth and sacredness of the marriage union.
3. “She knew not that I gave her,” etc. This is perpetually repeated. God blesses men with good things—undeservedly, even when they do not serve Him but “idols.” But they do not know that it is his hand from which they receive everything. It is just the superabundance of his gifts, that makes them so self-exalted and completely forgetful of Him. God must then change this abundance into want, and make presumptuous men feel their own impotence. And how deeply God can humble men! Such visitations are then the means by which God draws them again to Himself, teaches them to know Him, how unjust and at the same time how foolish is their apostasy from Him, how little their “idols” can help them, rather how ill they reward them; and how good it is, on the other hand, to abide by the service of the true God (“it was better with me then than now”). The fruit of such knowledge by humiliation is then the abandonment of idols and a turning to God.
4. That Hosea reverts with special fondness to the ancient history of Israel was already remarked in § 2 of the Introduction, and there shown to be connected with the fundamental idea of his prophetic discourses. In the later chapters (from the ninth onwards) this is specially apparent: but it is also found in our chapter, and thus in the earlier portion of his writings. In this he chiefly takes up the great deeds by which God manifested Himself to the fathers,—the exodus from Egypt, the journey through the Desert, the entrance into the Promised Land. These were the great fundamental acts of God in behalf of Israel, and were most deeply impressed upon the consciousness of the people; for they owed to these their very existence as his people, so that they could never forget them, not even in the season of their greatest decline. Prophetic discourse has in them therefore a sure, unassailable foundation upon which to take its stand. It can point out to the present, in a manner not to be resisted, the dealings of God in his specific relation to Israel his people, can draw from thence its most forcible arguments for its warning and chastening, as well as for its comfort and promises. It has been an advantage which it well understands and knows well how to use.
Special stress is in our chapter laid upon the journey through the desert as upon a season of great significance for Israel. Israel was in the wilderness: the milk and honey of the Promised Land were not yet; the flesh-pots of Egypt were no more. In the latter respect this season was one of deprivation and of want, and apparently of loss. But this was only apparent; for in reality it was not only a deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, which had both outwardly and inwardly injured the people, but God could draw so much nearer to the people spiritually as they were now reduced to corporeal distress, and attest and reveal Himself to them by his helpful and blessed mercy. It was just here that God concluded his covenant with Israel and made them his people, so that their real gain outweighed their apparent loss; and the people to whom God betrothed Himself was or became the people which found itself upon the way to the Promised Land. So the Prophet sees in the profound and fruitful significance of this journey, or rather of this leading through the Desert, a type of the blessing which a removal into the desert as a chastening would convey to the people who had become unfaithful to their God. They are deprived of their possessions, but so only stripped of the prosperity which had made them forgetful of God, and which was therefore an evil. And now when they have these no longer, and are thus freed from the fetters which have bound them spiritually, when, by foreign influences, so to speak, they are brought face to face with God, He has again free access to them; the time has come when God can again betroth Himself to the people who again return to Him, lead them again into the Promised Land, and restore them to a state of renewed prosperity and of richest blessing.
Those then who were led forth into the Desert did not realize the object of that experience. Nor was it individuals whom it was to profit, but the people as such. For them the journey through the wilderness was a season of trial in which they were being prepared to become God’s people, who should take possession of the Promised Land. And so in the sense of the prophetic promise the individuals who should suffer the judgment of devastation were not the same as those for whom the day of the new salvation was to break forth. That was to be a new generation. But the people were still the same, in the sense to be stated more clearly immediately.
5. With regard to the promise of our chapter and its fulfillment, the remark made in chap. 1 applies, namely, (a.) The fulfillment is not to be seen in the return of the Jews from the exile. This was, to be sure, a fulfillment, but only a small and feeble beginning. For the promise is to be regarded as essentially Messianic. And therefore we Christians, if to us the truth is fully and differently realized that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, must hold that this promise has found its fulfillment in Christ, and still finds it in Him; that is, in Christ the new “betrothal” of God to his people has already taken place; but the great salvation which is involved in this is as yet only partially realized, the completion is yet to come. The people of God are still marching through the desert; in Christ we are upon the sure way to the Promised Land, but that goal is not yet reached. (b.) Israel, to whom salvation is here promised by the Prophet, comes into view, not according to its natural nationality, but according to its divine destiny, or according to its typical significance as the People of God. They cannot perish beneath any judgment: for them a new day of salvation is waiting. But as this salvation is conditioned upon the coming of the Messiah, and we know clearly that the Messianic salvation is and shall be universal, so we are forbidden to restrict this great promised day of salvation to the external Israel, although the Prophet undeniably speaks of it,—Israel and God’s people being as yet to him essentially one,—and must extend it to the people of God generally, therefore to all believers, believers of Israel together with those of the Gentiles incorporated into the ancient Churchy, which must ever remain the parent stem. To Israel, who had become “Not-my-people,” many of the heathen who had been “Not-my-people” will unite themselves, and to them, to this whole complex “Not-my-people,” will God say: “Thou art my people:” and they will say: “My God.” So clearly and truly has Paul shown that the Gentiles must first become what Israel was, and that they shall and will really become so, that they shall actually overshadow Israel and so repair what they had lost. If these promises have not found and still do not find their fulfillment in the literal interpretation of what is said of Israel, it is clear that it is not a literal fulfillment of their contents, which speak of temporal blessings in the Holy Land, that is to be expected. Such limited blessings are inseparably connected with the limited range of application; but if the latter, the restriction to Israel, is only the shell and not the kernel, so is it with the former.
When the people of God were embodied in a nation, under the Old Testament, the possession of a definite country as the inheritance assigned them by God was something essential, and therefore, as the desolation of the country was a token of the Divine anger, so its fruitfulness, or in general a state of temporal prosperity, was necessarily an indication of the Divine favor. And so the temporal blessings predicted by the Prophet are the tokens of acceptance, of the returning favor of God. The latter, however, the return of favor, is the main element, the kernel which remains after the husk is stripped off. Yet the favor of God manifests itself still under the New Covenant in temporal blessings, while his wrath is declared in temporal punishments. But it does not need to be shown that the complete abandonment of the notion of a national and local settlement in a definite country, as belonging to the conception of a people of God, went further than this; that the New Covenant opens up a prospect of spiritual and inward blessings and enjoyments of which the former were only a thin shadow; and, in spite of this, to insist upon the literal sense is to beat in the face of the New Covenant, and to deny to the prophetic promises generally their lasting significance. For the legitimate consequence of such a theory is to declare that these are not and never shall be fulfilled; it is not simply to dream of a fulfillment expected still in the millennium, and to transfer to this epoch, which is not described any more definitely in the Apocalypse, conditions for which it is felt that room can be found nowhere else.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
God’s testimony against this apostate people: (1) threatening them with severe judgment; (2) and yet alluring them back with glorious promises.—The judgments of God, (1) invoked only by faithless apostasy from Him and base disowning of his favor; (2) aiming only at the complete conversion of the apostate and the joyful acceptance of the converted.
Hos_2:4. Pfaff. Bibelwerk: Believers are bound to warn in love their brothers, sisters, or parents, who are remiss in the practice of true religion, and to bring them to the right way.
Hos_2:7. God is the real Giver of all temporal and spiritual blessings. If, therefore, thou hast any want, seek its supply from God.
Lange: It is much more easy and pleasant for a true child of God to serve Him in the enjoyment of his favor and with inward peace, than it is for an untaught child of the world to cleave to it with its restless service of sin.
[Matthew Henry: Crosses and obstacles in an even course are great blessings, and are so to be accounted; they are God’s hedges to keep us from transgressing, to restrain us from wandering out of the green pastures, to “withdraw man from his purpose” (Job_33:17), to make the way of sin difficult that we may not go on in it, and to keep us from it whether we will or not. We have reason to bless God for restraining grace and for restraining judgment. God is a bountiful benefactor even to those whom He foresees will be ungrateful and unthankful to Him.—M.]
Hos_2:10. God ever remains the Possessor of the gifts He bestows. Pfaff. Bibelwerk: It is a shameful and inexcusable sin to misuse the gifts of God, in order to serve our evil desires or to promote evil ends. It is a great sin to devote the riches, which God bestows, to the service of idolatry or superstition.
[Pusey: Since “men have as many strange gods as they have sins,” what do they who seek pleasure or gain greatness or praise in forbidden ways or from forbidden sources, than make their pleasure or gain or ambition their god, and offer their time and understanding and ingenuity and intellect, yea their whole lives and their whole selves, their souls and bodies, all the gifts of God, in sacrifice to the idols they have made?—M.]
Hos_2:11. Pfaff. Bibelwerk: God takes his gifts from us when we misuse them. He demands a heavy reckoning.
[Matthew Henry: Those that abuse the mercies God gives them to his dishonor cannot expect to enjoy them long.—M.]
Hos_2:12. Hengstenberg: Him who forsakes God for the world, God puts to shame before the world, and that all the more, the nearer he formerly stood to Him.
[Matthew Henry: Those who will not deliver themselves into the hand of God’s mercy cannot be delivered out of the hand of his justice.—M.]
Hos_2:14. Pfaff. Bibelwerk: Thus on account of false worship of God and impious doctrine, are whole countries destroyed by the Lord. O, that true zeal would animate the great ones of this world to destroy the kingdom of Satan everywhere powerfully, so that the hand of the Lord may not smite them.
[Hengstenberg: The sacred writers are not ashamed to use a base word for such base traffic. They speak throughout of common things in a common manner; for the vulgar word is the most suitable for a vulgar thing. The morality of a people or of an age may be measured by their speaking of a vulgar thing in a vulgar manner, or the reverse.—M.]
Hos_2:15. Pfaff. Bibelwerk: This is the way of the gracious and merciful God: if He does first lead us into the desert and make us feel the rod of his wrath, He speaks kindly to us afterwards when we repent, and applies his mercy to our stricken hearts, which are thus made more capable of using it aright.
[Matthew Henry: The best way of reducing wandering souls to God is by fair means. By the promise of rest in Christ we are invited to take his yoke upon us, and the work of conversion may be forwarded by comforts as well as by convictions.
Pusey: God has mercy, not because we deserve it, but because we need it. He draws us because we are so deeply sunken. He prepares the soul by these harder means, and thus the depths of her misery cry to the depths of his compassion: and because chastisement alone would stupefy her, not melt her, He changes his wrath into mercy, and speaks to the heart which, for her salvation, He has broken.—M.]
Hos_2:17. Strife and tribulation are to believers by God’s grace a door of hope (Rom_5:4). It is a peculiar and special work for God’s children to praise Him with mouth, heart, and life, for so many blessings received.
Pfaff. Bibelwerk: Behold, O soul, the consequence of thy true repentance. Thou hast new hope, new joy, new faith in Jesus the Bridegroom of our souls, the abandonment of all false and hypocritical worship, new blessings from God, security, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost!
[Pusey: To each returning soul, the valley of trouble, or the lowliness of repentance, becometh a door of patient longing, not in itself but because God giveth it so; a longing which reacheth on, awaiteth on, entering within the vail, and bound fast to the throne of God.—M.]
Hos_2:19. Keil: The abandonment of idolatry and mixed religion is a work of divine grace which renews the heart and fills it with abhorrence of idolatry in its gross or refined forms.
Hos_2:20. Only then can men live with full enjoyment and security in the world, when they feel assured that they have a merciful God.
[Matthew Henry: Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia.—M.]
Hos_2:21. Rieger: When the kind alluring of God finds entrance into us, when it educes an answer of humble penitence, how the faithful God becomes inclined to make all his covenant good to us, and to let no good thing fail of all that He has spoken.
Pfaff. Bibelwerk: How highly are the souls of believers esteemed by God that He should betroth Himself to them, and that to eternity, and present Himself and his love to them literally as their own! For in this He presents to them his dear righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, which is of infinite worth; He acquits them in judgment; He displays toward them mercy and compassion by the forgiveness of sins. He even betroths Himself to them in faithfulness, and thus implants the true knowledge of Him in their souls. Prove, O soul, whether thou art as intimate with Him: Dost thou enjoy with Him a blessed and true communion of love? Why is it then that thou dost still love so much the world and sin, and that thy mind is ever occupied with other objects than Jesus?
[Saint Bernard: How can it be that so mighty a king should become a Bridegroom, that the Church should be exalted into a bride? That alone which is all-powerful hath power for this, Love that is strong as death. How should that not raise her up, which has already made Him to stoop? If He hath not acted as a spouse, if He hath not loved as a spouse, been jealous as a spouse, then hesitate thou to think thyself espoused.—M.]
Hosea 2:23, 24. If God be for us, who can be against us. Faith will assuredly gain a hearing. Behold, all creatures are ready to serve believers. Everything must drop blessings upon them.
Pfaff. Bibelwerk: God pours down upon believers from the lofty heaven of his mercy a shower of spiritual gifts, yes, even the oil of the Holy Spirit Himself. It is our part to open the mouths of our heart, and most eagerly receive those blessing which God’s mercy vouchsafes to us.
[Matthew Henry: See what a peculiar delight those that are in covenant with God may take in their creature comforts, as seeing them all come to them from the hand of God; they can run up all the streams to the fountain, and taste covenant love in common mercies, which makes them doubly sweet.—M.]
Hosea 2:25. Pfaff. Bibelwerk: There is thus always time left for repentance, and the Lord still preserves a seed for Himself, which He makes fruitful and increases. If He then is so rich in mercy, O let us become ready to receive it by a true repentance and conversion, and not suppose that this great work can be accomplished in a life-less spirit or with a hypocritical behavior.
Cramer: True faith knows God not only as God, but as its God.
Rieger: All in this life that is truly good is included in this: My God! if said not from habit, but with a full title to its use. This is a word of faith, by which we place our whole reliance upon the almighty, true, and compassionate God; it is a word of hope by which we provide ourselves with all good perpetually in God, who is a Rock of Eternity, a word of love and fellowship by which we delight ourselves in the goodness of God, and give ourselves wholly up to Him.
[Pusey: To say my God, is to own an exclusive relation to God alone. It is to say, my Beginning and my End, my Hope and my Salvation, in whom alone I will hope, whom alone I will fear, love, worship, trust in, and obey, and serve, with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, my God and my All!—M.]
Footnotes:
[1]Hos_2:4.—נַאֲפוּפִים, ἅπ. λεγ.= נִאֻפִיכ. Fürst regards it as signifying objects of idolatrous worship, there fore: little images, which are represented as being carried upon the breast. [But this is opposed to the parallel expression, זְנוּכִים, which, as Hengstenberg says, is evidently to be taken as the species (adultery) of which the other (whoredoms, acts of unchastity) is the genus. As illustrating the fitness of this picture, Manger compares Eze_23:3, and Horace, Od., i., 19, 7, 8.—M.]
[2][Hos_2:8—גְּדֵיָה. J. H. Michaelis and Jahn point in their editions נְּדֵרָהּ, her wall, and this reading, Hengstenberg assumes, without any discussion, to be correct. But there is an obvious unsuitableness in this. The wall could not be represented as being “her” wall unless it were conceived of as existing before the action on the part of Jehovah, which action was to make the wall.—M.]
[3][Hos_2:11.—לְכַסּוֹת, (which were) to cover. Such an ellipsis is quite common. The rendering of the LXX. γοῦ μὴ καλύπτειν, conveys the sense, but is not a translation. It was quite unnecessary for Newcome, Horsley, Boothroyd, and others following Houbigant, who was misled by the LXX., to change the לְ into מְ.—M.]
[4]Hos_2:14.—אֶתְנָה. This is usually derived from תנה, as also is the usual synonym, אֶתְנָן. Hengstenberg labors to prove the derivation of both words from נתן and its 1st fut.: a “I-will-give-thee,” similar to our “forget-me-not.” The absence of daghesh-forte in both nouns would seem to prove the untenableness of this hypothesis.—M.]
[5]Hos_2:17.—עָנְתָה. Some take this from ענה, to be bowed down, here: to be humble. But this does not suit the sense of the verse. Besides, שָׁמָּהּ would then = שָׁם.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 mother--that is the nation collectively. The address is to…
Plead--expostulate.
mother--that is the nation collectively. The address is to "her children," that is, to the individual citizens of the state (compare Isa 50:1).
Read full note →
for she is not my wife--She has deprived herself of her high privilege by spiritual adultery.
out of her sight--rather, "from her face." Her very countenance unblushingly betrayed her lust, as did also her exposed "breasts."
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 vv1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13 1. With this triumph a new era opens, an…
1. With this triumph a new era opens, an era of prosperity and felicity. This transformation warrants the change of the names of ill omen into their direct opposites.
Say ye — The members of the nation nearest the prophet are to spread the good news to their fellow countrymen.
Read full note →
Ammi — My people.
Ruhamah — She is loved, or pitied. As the three names in Hos_1:4; Hos_1:6; Hos_1:9, symbolize the utter rejection of Israel, so the names of Hos_1:11; Hos_2:1, symbolize the complete restoration of the people.
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 vv1–13 1. The parallel lines here seem misleading.
1. The parallel lines here seem misleading.
Say ye …] Now that the storm-cloud has rolled away, those names of baleful import Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah have ceased to be admissible, and are altered into the direct opposites. The verse is best understood as the conclusion of chap. 2, just as ‘Call his name Lo-ammi’, &c. ought to form the conclusion of chap. 1. The persons addressed are perhaps the disciples of the prophet, who are directed to communicate the joyful news summed up in the names Ammi (‘my people’) and Ruhamah (‘she hath found compassion’) to the whole nation.
Read full note →
2–23, Hos_1:10-11, Hos_2:1. Hosea’s first discourse, slightly obscured by the dislocation of some of its verses (see above on Hos_1:10-11). The prophet sets forth in more intelligible language what he has already suggested rather enigmatically. The finest part of the chapter is from Hos_2:14 to Hos_2:23, where Hosea shows how Israel will emerge purified from her captivity, and enjoy the love and favour of her Divine Bridegroom.
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 vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 (2) Plead with your mother . . .—Contend, or…
(2) Plead with your mother . . .—Contend, or plead in judgment. Let the awakened conscience of the present generation rise up in judgment with the nation as a whole. By “mother” we are to understand the nation Israel, viewed as a collective abstract; and by the “children” (Hos_2:4) the inhabitants who are units in the total aggregate. Ammi and Ruhamah without the negative prefix, show that this awakening of conscience has given them back their privileges.
Render, That she may put away her whoredoms from her face: i.e., her meretricious guiles, her unblushing idolatry, her voluptuous service of gods that are no God. This strong image was constantly on the lips of the prophets, and had been burned by cruel sorrow into the very heart of Hosea. It acquired portentous meaning in the hideous impurities of the worship of Baal-peor and Ashtoreth, against which the Jehovah worship was a tremendous protest.
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 vv1–13 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your…
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Divine mercy being now received, the recipients are urged to extend to each other the right hand of fellowship, exhorting one another, encouraging one smother, confirming each other in the faith, and mutually provoking each other to love and good works. "Because the comparison deals with a son and a daughter, the prophet therefore adds, "your brothers and your sisters (Kimchi).
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 vv3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Lest I strip her naked.
Hos_2:3
Lest I strip her naked.
Read full note →
Eastern divorce custom
It was the custom among the Jews when any married that what dowry they brought their husbands was written down in a table; and if afterwards the husband should divorce his wife, except there could be proved some gross and vile thing against the woman, she was to go away with her table, with her dowry; she must not go away empty, or naked. But if there could be proved some notorious villainy which she had committed, then she was sent away naked, without her tables, her dowry. Thus God threatens this people. She is not My wife. She shall be sent away without any tables, naked and wholly destitute. Observe--
1. The beginnings of great excellences are sometimes very low and mean. Set her as in the day that she was born.
2. Gods mercy is a peoples beauty and glory. When we have any excellency, any beauty upon us, it is Gods mercy that is all our beauty.
3. Though sinners deserve great evils, to be stripped of all comforts, yet God, in patience and clemency continues them a long time.
4. The mercies that God bestows upon a nation, are but common favours, not spiritual graces, they are such ornaments as a people may be stripped of. The great mercies a people have, they may wholly lose.
5. Continuance in sin, and especially the sin of spiritual whoredom, is that which will strip a nation from all their excellences, from all their ornaments and beauty.
6. It is time for a people to plead, when there is danger of desolation.
7. Those who will not be convinced by the Word, God has other means to convince them besides the Word. If pleading and convincing arguments will not do it, well then, stripping naked shall do it.
8. Whatever are the means of stripping a nation, it is really God that does it.
9. It is a grievous judgment for one that is advanced from a low to a high degree to be brought down again.
10. When God has delivered a people out of misery, and bestowed upon them great mercies, it is their duty often to think of the poor condition in which they were, and to use all the means they can that they may not be brought thither again. God loves this, that we should remember and seriously take to heart what once we were. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Spiritual chastity
It is not enough that God should choose any people for Himself, except the people themselves persevere in the obedience of faith; for this is the spiritual chastity which the Lord requires from all His people. But when is a wife, whom God hath bound to Himself by a sacred marriage, said to become wanton? When she falls away from pure and sound faith. Then it follows that the marriage between God and men so long endures as they who have been adopted continue in pure faith. Apostasy in a manner frees God from us, so that He may justly repudiate us. (John Calvin.)
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 vv1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 Hos_2:2. Plead] Jehovah makes the demand, urges individual Israelites…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hos_2:2. Plead] Jehovah makes the demand, urges individual Israelites to reason with the mother, i.e. the nation viewed as one. The children were seduced, in danger of punishment, and as penitents must protest against her conduct. Wife] Forfeited all claims to my protection. Sight] Lit. from her face, the seat of modesty and shame (Jer_3:8; Jer_6:15). “The eyes are windows through which death, i.e. lawless desire, enters into the soul, and takes it captive” [Pusey].
Read full note →
Hos_2:3. Strip] Nudity, the ancient punishment of an adulteress (Eze_16:37). Set] Lit. fix her as a gazing-stock, in a state of helplessness and misery. Wilderness] Reduced to want; an outward type of inward distress (Jer_2:6).
Hos_2:4. Children] inherit the nature, and exposed to the judgment, of their mother. Many imagine because free from the guilt and stain of sin they will not share its punishment.
Hos_2:5. Done shamefully] Heb. to practise shame (2Sa_19:5). “She made shameful everything which she could make shameful—her acts, her children, and herself” [Pusey]. The reproach of the mother should rouse the sons from spiritual apathy. Lovers] Idols and idolatrous nations whose alliance they courted, and to whom they ascribed the gifts of life, bread and water (Jer_44:17); a picture of life estranged from God.
HOMILETICS
FILIAL EXPOSTULATION.—Hos_2:1-5
The mother is the representative of the nation, of the ungodly in all nations and families. The sons must plead with them. They are involved in judgments, left orphans, and without protection, by the conduct of their mother.
I. Charge her with dissolution of the Marriage Contract. “She is not my wife.” A spiritual union was formed between God and his people, under terms of great endearment and oneness. But she was no longer united to God by faith and love, and God would own her no longer. Churches and individuals who give themselves to God must not decline in love. This will forfeit the honour, the protection of God, and his covenant relation; provoke him to anger, and lead to divorcement. How touching is the rebuke uttered by the complaint, Thou no longer lovest me! “She is not my wife, I am not her husband!” The history of the Church is a sad commentary upon these words. The Church at Ephesus was not wanting in purity of doctrine, nor in severity of discipline. The Lord disclosed the heart and published the fault. “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”
II. Urge her to put away Sin. The idolatry is described as whoredom and adultery; a breach of fidelity which Israel owed to God; an act of apostasy from God; more culpable than heathenish idolatry and superstitions.
1. A public sin. Israel, like a barefaced harlot, displayed her sins in public before men. Publicity tempts the weak, taints the innocent, and leads to ruin. Wickedness like this is the most dissolute, and its woe will be the most intense. Some sin secretly, but others proclaim their sin to the world—they glory in their shame.
2. A shameful sin. The face and the breasts are those parts of the body which display want of chastity, and depict boldness and shamelessness. Many neither shame nor blush at their vice. Boldness without confession of wrong, wickedness done with desire of recognition, impudence in sin, will lead to hardness of heart. Those who will not blush will soon be unable to blush. “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall.”
III. Warn her of Danger. Sin always involves risk, and brings its consequences upon ourselves and others. Every one is in duty bound, in his house, among his friends and relations, and in his country, to labour for the happiness and good of all, to check the wickedness and ward off the dangers by which he is surrounded.
1. She will expose herself. “Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born,” &c. (a) Expose herself to nakedness and helplessness. Israel taken when weak and few in number; trained, fed, and clothed by God like a little child; married to God, and adorned as a bride; should now be stripped, deprived of every ornament, as an adulterous wife; of all temporal and spiritual blessings as a people; and left naked and helpless, a gazing-stock to others. When God ceases to care and provide for a people, withholds the gifts of nature and of grace, they will become defiled by sin, cast out and loathsome. Like Adam and Eve, they will lose their innocence, and learn their nakedness. Divine judgments strip men of natural defence, family honour, and leave them “naked unto their shame amongst their enemies” (Exo_22:25). (b) Expose herself to want and distress. “Make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land.” Incursions and hostilities of the enemy could lay her waste as a wilderness; or put her in great straits and distress, as in the desert when they came out of Egypt. Idolatry desolates the land and brings the devouring sword. She would be like a dry land, destitute of food and the maintenance of life. Well-watered gardens become deserts through sin. The outward is a type of the inward. “Mind hath its deserts no less than Region,” says Bacon. “Everything that I love,” said Napoleon, “everything that belongs to me, is stricken. Heaven and mankind unite to afflict me.” The soul of the sinner is desolate and unfruitful in the ways and works of God; devoid of God’s presence and blessing; unrelieved by green pastures and living rills. “Your house is left unto you desolate,” are words which describe the doom of all without Christ. Hungry and thirsty, they are not satisfied, but perish like a traveller in want. “Slay her with thirst.”
2. She would endanger her children. “I will not have mercy upon her children”—children of whoredom inheriting the nature and suffering from the conduct of their mother. There is no security in sin. The rising generation do not escape. Parents entail a curse upon their offspring, and individuals are involved in national calamities. As good is diffused on every hand, so evil has its consequences; consequences which have their influences, results themselves pregnant with other results, in endless succession. Our endeavour should be to guard ourselves from the evil of others, and guard against detriment from our own acts. “This man perished not alone in his iniquity.”
IV. Reprove her for Folly. She had acted shamefully in word and deed, towards herself and her children. The course of sin is a course of shame. The sinner forgets his best friend, and forsakes his own mercy. “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” The conduct of Israel was an affront to God and a reproach to man. To fall down to any image, ancient or modern, is to turn our glory into shame. This was—
1. An ungrateful sin. God set before them his law and judgments, promised blessings for obedience, and had given them the necessities and the luxuries of life; “more than corn, wine, and oil” (Psa_4:7); but they claimed these gifts as their own; “my bread and my water;” or ascribed them to the lovers they followed. Men care for the things of time and sense, lands, houses, and life, and forget the claims, the prior right of God. These things are only lent us, must not be held upon wrong tenure and made our gods. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”
2. An aggravated sin. Amid Divine chastisement Israel encouraged herself in idolatry. She called the objects of her choice “lovers,” and drew others to follow her in pursuit. She waits not for invitation and allurement, but eager and unbidden, contrary to natural feeling and covenant pledge, she cries, “I will go,” She was obstinate in pursuit, and avowed her determination. Abuse is added to ingratitude; God is forsaken for the pleasures of life, and men attribute present happiness and prosperity to sin, rather than to his goodness and forbearance. Take heed lest ye be fattened and fitted for slaughter. Aggravated sin ripens for judgment. He that despises God’s reproof “shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
3. A delusive sin. Idols do not give the necessities and enjoyments of life. God alone can fill men’s “hearts with food and gladness” (Act_14:17). The heathens had a goddess of corn and gods of wine from whom they expected these gifts; so men now make their gods, and fancy that these gods will help them. They delude themselves by error and folly; make things outside of God their lovers; and deify their talents or the laws of nature. We belong to God, and all things are at his disposal. If we do not trust in him, we “observe lying vanities.” Man must have a god, and if he will not love and serve the true and living God, he makes a fool of himself, and pays homage to a lie and a delusion. “As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_2:1 may be taken as (in last chapter),
1. A declaration of joy. Wrath passed away and mercy remembered.
2. A declaration of Christian experience. (a) To encourage others. (b) To glorify God. God’s grace is magnified; God’s word is proved to be faithful; God’s name made known, and others are induced to repent and trust in him. “Say ye to your brethren, Ammi.”
3. An exhortation to the converted to plead with the unconverted. The few faithful in faithless Israel must plead with others. Those who know God must expostulate with those who do not know him; children with parents; relatives with relatives. (a) This a natural order. We naturally feel for friends and relatives. We may not forget others, but we begin at home. Andrew was acquainted with Jesus and related to Peter. “He first findeth his own brother Simon.” Paul could wish himself accursed for his kindred in the flesh (Rom_9:3). (b) This a Divine order. “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee” (Mar_5:19). “Let them (children) learn first to show piety at home” (1Ti_5:4). (c) This the most successful order. We have greater sympathy for friends, more love to our own, than others. They are more likely to be influenced and persuaded by us than others. “Plead with your mother, plead” earnestly, faithfully, and continually.
Hos_2:3. The folly of sin.
1. It strips men of blessings.
2. Exposes them to shame and danger.
3. Leaves them helpless and distressed. The sinner is naked; bereft of grace, love, and protection; and exposed to famine and peril. A Christian Church which throws off the ornaments of Divine grace and Divine ordinances will be stripped of outward privileges—spiritual gifts despised will lead to withdrawal of temporal gifts.[1]
[1] “Sin is a wasting plague to souls, countries, and enjoyments, for so is imported in the words, and ‘make her as a wilderness,’ ” &c. [Hutcheson].
Hos_2:4. Mercy withheld from children, churches, or nations, is a sad addition to their trouble. There is nothing to moderate, prevent, or remove their sorrow.
Hos_2:5. “I will go.” The infatuation of the sinner, who hardens, emboldens himself in sin, and rushes, heedless of warnings and judgments, to shame and destruction. Steps in apostasy from God.
1. Renouncing obedience.
2. Loving idols.
3. Ascribing God’s gifts to idols.
4. Justifying this course from benefits received. “We too have our idols, which our natural hearts madly run after, turning away from God. Whatever we make our chief good, outside of God, is an idol. How apt, moreover, we are to take God’s gifts, our food, clothing, comforts, and luxuries, as if they were our own by some peculiar right; calling them ‘my bread, my water, my wool, my flax,’ and to attribute our possession of them to our gold, our industry, and our talents, making these our gods” [Fausset’ s Com.]. God is the real giver of all temporal and spiritual blessings. If, therefore, thou hast any want, seek its supply from God [Lange].[2]
[2] “As it is a great sin to depart from God and his true worship, so especially is it a shameful way of departing from him when men’s ends are so low and base that they will follow any way of religion for interest and advantage, and account the thriving way best. Israel thought she throve best in and because of her idolatry. ‘they give me my bread,’ &c. [Hutcheson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Hos_2:1-5. Mothers and children. When a mother once asked a clergyman when she should begin the education of her child, then four years old, he replied, “Madam, if you have not begun already, you have lost those four years. From the first smile that gleams upon an infant’s cheek your opportunity begins.” The mother lives again in her children. They unconsciously mould themselves after her manner, her speech, her conduct, and her method of life. Her habits become theirs, and her character is visibly repeated in them” [Smiles]. Children may be strangled, but deeds never: they have an indestructible life, both in and out of our consciousness [George Eliot].
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.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 God’s presence in loneliness—a sermon for Lent.
Hos 2:14
God’s presence in loneliness—a sermon for Lent.
Read full note →
I. From the first dawning of conversion to the hour of death, it is in solitude mostly that God speaks to the soul. God’s will, as Himself, is everywhere; within and without He speaks to our souls, if we would hear. Only the din of the world, or the tumult of our own hearts, deafens our inward ear to it. Stillness is as His very presence, for like the prayer for the prophet’s servant, it opens our senses to perceive what was there to behold, only our eyes were holden. All God’s works, because He made them, bear traces of His hand, and speak of Him to the soul which is alone with Him. All works of man directed or. overruled by His providence—everything, good or bad, speaks of His presence or His absence. But chiefly, in the inmost soul He speaks, because there He dwells.
II. Once, we must be alone; and lonely, indeed, is that journey if He be not by us who first trod it for us, that in it we might fear no evil. Learn to be alone with God now. There shall He renew thy soul, hear thy prayer and answer it, shed hope around thee, kindle thy half-choked love, give thee some taste of His own boundless love; give thee the longing to pass out of all besides, out of thy decayed self; gathered upward unto Him, who came down hither to our misery to bear us up unto Himself, and make us one spirit with Him.
III. One thing only deafens us to the voice of God, untunes all, sets us out of harmony with all, that we should not, in all things, feel the thrill of His love, and behold there the earnest of heaven,—sin. Labour, by His grace, to cleanse away this; pray Him to cleanse it with His precious blood; commend thyself morning by morning to Him, do thy daily work unto Him, and He will be with thee, as with Adam in the garden; and thy daily labour shall again be a dressing and keeping of the Paradise of God, where He shall walk with thee.
E. B. Pusey, Sermons for the Church’s Seasons, p. 196.
References: Hos 2:14—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 306; W. Robertson, Sunday Magazine, 1881, p. 47; J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 134.
Hos 2:14-15
Our text belongs, we may suppose in a special sense to the Jew. It may in part have been accomplished in his past history, but its thorough fulfilment is to be looked for in the future. But there is every reason why the passage should admit of a secondary application—an application to ourselves as the subjects of the chastisements which God appoints or permits.
I. Notice, first, the expression "allure." There is no apparent keeping between the process and the result; the process—that of allurement; the result—that of a wilderness. Yet if we think for a moment we shall see, that we are often actually allured into the wilderness. For what are all those brilliant and fascinating hopes, which God suffers for a time to float before our vision, but so many allurements? And when these hopes vanish, as they frequently do, where are we left but in a wilderness—a wilderness into which the hopes had led us?
II. God speaks comfortably in the wilderness. If we force Him to make a wilderness in order that He may be heard, He does not make it that He may speak terror and despair to our souls. The object is, with the wicked, to draw off their attention from earth and its vanities; with the righteous to discipline them for an "exceeding and eternal weight of glory; and what, in both cases, is this but comfortable speaking?
III. The text is more than an assertion as to God’s comforting His people under affliction; it declares that their afflictions may be made an occasion of advantage, or be converted into instruments of spiritual good. "I will give her her vineyards from thence: "Christians gather their best grapes from the thorn. "And the valley of Achor for a door of hope:" Sorrows which are especially the chastisements of misdoing may issue in a firmer hope of everlasting salvation. God never breaks a man’s heart except that He may be able to pour in, like the good Samaritan, the oil and the wine. He brings the sinner into the valley, the terrors of the law urge him forward and prevent all retreat. But just then it is—when the sinner feels himself utterly lost and at the same time confesses God’s justice in destroying him—that the Almighty shows him, as it were, a cleft in the rock, into which he may run. The valley of Achor terminates in a door of hope; gladness comes back into the soul, the sense of pardon, the sense of reconciliation; he sings in the valley "as in the days of his youth, and as in the day when he came up out of the land of Egypt."
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1843.
I. The text expresses the constancy and tenderness of the Divine love. (1) The relation between Jehovah and His people is spoken of in terms of the relation between husband and wife: "I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness." Blended with the Divine wrath against idolatry—yea, lying at the very root of that wrath—is the eternal love. God does not spurn Israel away, and bid her begone again to the lot which she has chosen; but, in the exercise of that affection which has survived all her shame, He says, "Behold, I will allure her... and speak comfortably unto her." (2) These words not only reveal constancy, they also breathe tenderness. To speak comfortably is, literally, to speak to the heart. Such speaking is not addressed to the ear only; nor does it merely inform the understanding; it reaches the affections; it thrills the soul; it awakens responsive echoes there. God has His unobtrusive yet mighty forces. Goodness, as well as evil, woos the soul.
II. The text points to the beneficent purpose of the Divine discipline and chastisement. (1) The wilderness is typical of the discipline to which God subjects His people. Through all trial there runs the same beneficent purpose. God designs to bring us into a true and safe prosperity; and so He seeks, by strengthening our character, to prepare us for entering into the land of "vineyards." (2) "The valley of Achor" may be taken as typical, more especially, of the Divine chastisements. The afflictions with which we are visited often assume to our consciences the aspect of correction. This is because our calamities—bringing us more directly into the light of God—bring us also face to face with the sins which that light condemns. Only accept your trouble as the chastisement of One who loves you and there, in the valley of your humiliation, where the blackness of your sin is revealed to you, rise up against the traitor, lust, and stone it to death. Then "the valley of Achor" shall be made unto you also a "door of hope;" and with confident expectation, because with purified heart you will march on to fuller conquest and final victory.
T. Campbell Finlayson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xi., p. 251.
Hos 2:15
This promise, like all God’s promises, has its well-defined conditions. Achan has to be killed and put safe out of the way first, or no shining hope will stand out against the black walls of the defile. The tastes which knit us to the perishable world, the yearnings for Babylonish garments and wedges of gold, must be coerced and subdued. There is no natural tendency in the mere fact of sorrow and pain to make God’s love more discernible, or to make our hope any firmer. All depends on how we use the trial; or, as I say: First stone Achan and then hope!
I. So the trouble which detaches us from earth gives us new hope. Vain regret, absorbed brooding over what is gone, a sorrow kept gaping long after it should have been healed, like a grave-mound off which desperate love has pulled turf and flowers in the vain attempt to clasp the cold hand below—in a word, the trouble that does not withdraw us from the present will never be a door of hope, but rather a grim gate for despair to come in at.
II. The trouble which knits us to God gives us new hope. That bright form which comes down the narrow valley is His messenger and herald—sent before His face. All the light of hope is the reflection on our hearts of the light of God. If our hope is to grow out of our sorrow, it must be because our sorrow drives us to God.
III. The trouble which we bear rightly with God’s help gives new hope. If we have made our sorrow an occasion for learning by living experience somewhat more of His exquisitely varied and ever-ready power to aid and bless, then it will teach us firmer confidence in these inexhaustible resources which we have thus once more proved. We build upon two things—God’s unchangeableness, and His help already received; and upon these strong foundations we may wisely and safely rear a palace of hope, which shall never prove a castle in the air.
A. Maclaren, Weekday Evening Addresses, p. 159.
References: Hos 2:15.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 199; Bishop Lightfoot, Old Testament Outlines, p. 266. Hos 2:19-20.—B. Baker, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 139. Hos 2:23.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 309. Hos 3:1.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 35. Hos 3:4, Hos 3:5.—S. Leathes, Good Words, 1874, p. 226. Hos 3:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 888. Hos 4:6.—C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 56.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v2 The Discipline and Restoration of Faithless Israel
The Discipline and Restoration of Faithless Israel
The unfaithful conduct of Gomer and the prophet's gentle treatment of her are regarded as an analogue of the nation's faithlessness and God's gentle correction, a proof of the love which will triumph in the end. But the acted parable and its interpretation are so blended that they cannot always be separated; and frequently the prophet's personal experience is overshadowed by the larger thought of God's dealings with His people.
Read full note →
2. Plead] addressed to Gomer's sons. The people Israel in this acted allegory are sometimes the sons, as in Hos_2:1, but more generally the wife. When as here distinguished we may suppose that the prophet is appealing to those willing to hear to remonstrate with the faithless majority. There is a somewhat similar mixture of figure in Isa_62:5. She is not my wife] The people by their idolatry had put themselves into a false relation with Jehovah. He was no longer their God, nor they His people: cp. Hos_1:9.
3, 4. As a punishment for her faithlessness, the country would be made desolate by an invading enemy, and the inhabitants slain with the sword. So would she be put to shame.
Children of whoredoms] By their idolatries the people had proved themselves to be children of other gods, the lovers of Hos_2:5.
5. They worshipped the gods of the land—the local deities who were supposed to give abundant crops if propitiated. See Intro. They did not ascribe the fertility of the land to Jehovah, but to the local Baalim, who were personifications of the reproductive powers of nature, and in whose worship they had practically merged the worship of Jehovah.
6, 7. Through the disasters brought by a foreign enemy, including the siege of their cities, the people would discover the impotence of their idols, and seek Jehovah in earnest: cp. Hos_14:3, etc. Make a wall] RV 'make a fence against her.'
7. Lovers] i.e. the Baalim.
8. They prepared for Baal] RM 'made into the image of Baal.' How absurd and how insulting to use God's gift in this way!
9. Will I.. take away] RV 'will I take back.' In the time thereof] i.e. when it should be ripe, the crop would fail. God would thus punish them for the abuse of His gift.
10. Her lovers] The idols would be ashamed, unable to help their devotees, when the land was laid waste. 11. Jehovah would put an end to her religious feasts of all kinds. New moons and sabbaths were the most distinctive feasts in connexion with the worship of Jehovah in the N. (1Sa_20:5; 2Ki_4:23).
12. Rewards] RV 'hire': the bribe for which Israel had worshipped the idols (lovers) under the mistaken belief that they gave them these things: see on Hos_2:5.
13. Baalim] RV 'the Baalim,' i.e. the images of Baal: cp. Hos_2:8. The allusion here is to heathen or heathenish festivals looked upon as acts of faithlessness to Jehovah. They are spoken of as past in relation to the future judgment which Hosea has in mind, or because idolatry had from the first been the besetting sin of the northern kingdom.
14. Therefore, etc.] 'This being her miserable condition, I will entice her to repent by gentle discipline.' The key to such expressions lies in the tenderness felt by Hosea for his sinning wife (see Intro.). The wilderness] either the land of captivity in which she realises her sin and turns to God, or the land wasted by the enemy. Men allure to destruction: God allures to punishment, to make the outpouring of love possible. Comfortably] Heb. 'to her heart,' as in Isa_40:1, etc.
15. I will give] The vineyards destroyed by the enemy (Hos_2:12) would be restored. Achor] i.e. trouble. Achor was the valley where Achan was stoned for his sin (Jos_7:26). It was on this account called the valley of Achor, or trouble. What is meant by its use here is that, while the Israelites would find that as of old sin would be followed by punishment, the punishment was meant to purify and discipline, and the 'trouble' was thus the 'door of hope.' Though Israel had been again unfaithful, God was still 'plenteous in mercy.' Sing] RV 'make answer,' i.e. listen to the call of God.
16. Ishi.. Baali] Both words were used by a wife to her husband. The first, 'my man,' implied a relation of intimacy: the second, 'my lord,' that of servitude, or at least ownership. But the passage seems to imply that Baal, a common name for all heathen gods, had in common practice been used also of Jehovah. This would account for its appearing in several place-names, such as Baal-Hamon, Baal-Shalisha.
17. Baalim] RV 'the Baalim.' Whether they represented Jehovah or heathen gods, the names with their debasing associations would be utterly discarded.
18. Make a covenant] Jehovah is here represented poetically as making an agreement with, or laying a command upon, noxious animals, that they will not, it may be supposed, hurt either man or the fruits of his labours: cp. Isa_11:9. Break the bow, etc.] destroy the weapons of warfare no longer needed in a land of security: cp. Isa_9:5 (RV).
19, 20. The idols had hired Israel's love with gifts of worldly prosperity, and even these they could not really give (Hos_2:12). Jehovah would woo Israel in the first place with much higher gifts, righteousness, judgment, etc.
21, 22. I will hear, etc.] The natural order of thought is reversed, because Jehovah (through the prophet) is speaking of His work. The whole thought is highly poetical. Jezreel ('God-soweth,' used for Israel, for the sake of the play on the word) cries for the com and wine and oil. These cry to the earth to produce them. The earth in its turn cries to the heaven for rain, and the rain cries to Jehovah to send it. Jehovah hears the cry, and so the heart's desire of the people is granted, even without their expressly asking Jehovah for it.
23. I will sow] With reference to the name Jezreel see on Hos_1:4. Jehovah promises the renewed increase of the population: cp. Jer_31:27.
I will have mercy] a repetition of the promises of Hos_1:10; Hos_2:1.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v2 She is not my wife
She is not my wife
That Israel is the wife of Jehovah Hos 2:16-23, now disowned but yet to be restored, is the clear teaching of the passages. This relationship is not to be confounded with that of the Church of Christ. (See Scofield "Joh 3:29"). In the mystery of the Divine tri-unity both are true. The N.T. speaks of the Church as a virgin espoused to one husband 2Co 11:1; 2Co 11:2 which could never be said of an adulterous wife, restored in grace. Israel is, then, to be the restored and forgiven wife of Jehovah, the Church the virgin wife of the Lamb; Joh 3:29; Rev 19:6-8. Israel Jehovah’s earthly wife Hos 2:23, the Church the Lamb’s heavenly bride, Rev 19:7.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Appeal and Punishment for Unfaithfulness The Resumed Relationship
CHAPTER 2
Appeal and Punishment for Unfaithfulness The Resumed Relationship
Read full note →
1. The appeal and complaint (Hos 2:1-5)
2. The punishment for Unfaithfulness (Hos 2:6-13)
3. The resumed relationship and its great blessing (Hos 2:14-23)
Hos 2:1-5. Who is addressed in the first verse of this chapter? Some think the children of the prophet are meant. The godly in Israel, those who obtained mercy, are addressed, for the Lord acknowledges such still as “Ammi”-my people. The godly are to plead with the rest of Israel their mother, but who is disowned by Jehovah as the wife, on account of her adulterous conduct. Then the Lord threatens her with severe punishment because of her unfaithfulness. She is to be stripped naked and be as in the day she was born (see Eze 16:4). Nor would there be mercy for her children because the mother, Israel, continued to go after her lovers.
Hos 2:6-13. Her way is to be hedged up with thorns; a wall of separation is to be raised and to keep her from her lovers. And if she follow after them and make a sinful alliance with them (symbolical of the idol worship of heathens which Israel practiced) she would not find them. Thus she might return to her first husband, to Jehovah. Israel had received from the Lord corn, wine, oil, silver and gold. Then they attributed it all to Baal and used it in idol worship. In Hos 2:9-13 the punishment is fully made known. She is to be left alone; the gifts and blessings will be withdrawn; her lewdness is to be uncovered, all mirth will cease and the days of Baalim, spent in licentious worship, would be visited upon her in judgment.
Hos 2:14-23. Immediately after the announcement of her punishment follows the assurance or future mercy. Israel’s conversion is promised (Hos 2:14-17) and the great mercies of Jehovah’s covenant are to be renewed (Hos 2:18-23). The Lord of love will not forever abandon His people and though Israel has played the harlot so long, with no willingness to return unto Him, He Himself in infinite love is going to woo her back. He will allure her, as He brings her into the wilderness, and there speak “to her heart” (the Hebrew meaning). That will be in the coming day when the Lord will remember the remnant of His people during the time of Jacob’s trouble and save them in that day. Then she will get her vineyards, her place of blessing, promised to Israel as His earthly people. The valley of Achor shall be the door of hope. In that valley Achan died, on account of whom all Israel had fallen under the ban Jos 7:1-26. There judgment had been enacted and after that blessing was restored to Israel and the ban was removed. Achor means “troubling.” When Israel is in that great trouble, the great tribulation, the valley of trouble will become the door of hope, for then the Lord will forgive them their sins, cover them with His grace and redeem them by His power. Then the singing times begin again for Israel. “She shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.” Songs of praise on account of accomplished redemption by Jehovah’s power will then burst forth Exo 15:1-27; Isa 12:1-6. She will be fully restored to her former relationship, typified by marriage. “It shall be in that day, saith the Lord, that Thou shalt call Me Ishi (my husband), and shalt call Me no more Baali (my master).” She will be re-married to the Lord, symbolically speaking, and become the earthly wife of Jehovah, while the church, the espoused virgin, becomes in glory the Lamb’s wife Rev 19:6-21).
But greater blessing will be connected with that coming day of blessing, when Israel is received back Rom 11:15. Verse 18 tells us that creation will then be blest; the time of its deliverance has come. Here the same is indicated as in Isa 11:6-7 and Rom 8:21. The end of wars comes then and universal peace blesses the whole earth. This is always the order in the divine forecasts. First, Israel has to be brought back, and after that the blessings for the earth and the nations, including that peace, which the blinded world-church tries to secure without the Lord Jesus Christ. All these promises as to the future of Israel, her restoration and spiritual blessings, are unrealized. “It is infatuation to think that all this was fully accomplished in the return of a remnant from the captivity. The result is that even Christians, misled by this miserable error, are drawn away into the rationalistic impiety of counting God’s Word here mere hyperbole to heighten the effect, as if the Holy Spirit deigned to be a verbal trickster, or a prophet were as vain as a litterateur. No; it is a brighter day, when the power of God will make a complete clearance from the world of disorder, misrule, man’s violence and corruption, as well as reduce to harmless and happy resubjection the entire animal kingdom.”
In that day all the great covenant blessings will return to redeemed Israel. Betrothed again to Jehovah in righteousness, in judgment, in faithfulness and mercies, Israel will know Jehovah. There will be an uninterrupted line of blessing from the heavens down to every earthly blessing. Heavens and earth will be gloriously united, and in answer to the call of His people the heavens will hear and cover all with blessing, for Satan’s power is now gone. Israel is no more Lo-ammi, but they will be “His people” and He will be “their God,” while the redeemed nation itself will be a blessing in the earth.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 v. 1. Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi ("My…
v. 1. Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi ("My people"); and to your sisters, Ruhamah ("having obtained mercy"). The original names of the children were thus changed to indicate their changed relationship toward God and their Savior. No matter how far a person has fallen away from the truth of God’s Word, there is always mercy for Him through the redemption of Christ, if he but returns in true sorrow over his sins and accepts the offered deliverance.
A Threat of Punishment
Read full note →
v. 2. Plead with your mother, the members of Israel, as the children of an adulterous wife, being addressed, plead; for she is not My wife, she was no longer Jehovah’s bride, neither am I her Husband, for He had been obliged to reject her on account of her adultery; let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, namely, the shameless idolatry which was practiced throughout Israel at the time, and her adulteries from between her breasts, for Israel, in her shamelessness, was like a public harlot, who displays her profession in her bared breasts,
v. 3. lest I strip her naked, as a punishment for her shameless exposure of herself in the practice of her spiritual wantonness, and set her as in the day that she was born, Cf Exo 16:4, when she was without covering, and make her as a wilderness and set her like a dry land, altogether desert in every way, and slay her with thirst, thus depriving her of all the wonderful blessings which He had given her in the past, for the Lord had had mercy on His people in Egypt, He had led them out of the house of bondage, and He had made a covenant with them. The desert is a picture of the various tribulations and sufferings of the exile.
v. 4. And I will not have mercy upon her children, all the members of the nation being included in His punishment; for they be the children of whoredoms, all of them being guilty of the same shameless idolatry.
v. 5. For their mother hath played the harlot, the whole nation, as the various prophets show, being guilty of the same idolatrous behavior; she that conceived them hath done shamefully, openly committing her shameless acts, making no attempt to hide her bold practices; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink, food, clothing, and the enjoyments of life; for Israel’s commercial enterprise was stimulated by the riches and power of the nations round about, and it was with the idea of getting and holding their friendship that the Israelites began to practice idolatry.
v. 6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, setting insurmountable obstacles to keep Israel away from the heathen nations with their allurements and temptations, and make a wall that she shall not find her paths, namely, to the temples and altars of the idols. The Lord undoubtedly refers to the oppression and affliction of the exile, which opened the eyes of the children of Israel to the vanity and helplessness of the idols.
v. 7. And she shall follow after her lovers, determined, at first, to cling to the false gods whom she had accepted, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them, for she would be reduced to such straits as would show her how vain was her hope in these idols and their assistance. Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first Husband, having learned, by bitter experience, that He is the only true God, for then, at the time when Israel followed Him alone, was it better with me than now.
v. 8. For she did not know, she did not realize at that time, that I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold, giving her all these temporal blessings in rich measure, which they prepared for Baal, using it for his cult and worship, in open idolatry. Many a person serves a false god, not knowing that the very gifts which he brings are the blessings of God’s goodness upon him.
v. 9. Therefore will I return and take away My corn in the time thereof, namely, at the very time of the harvest, when men would expect a full supply, and My wine in the season thereof and will recover My wool and My flax, all these being gifts of His bounty, and therefore rightly belonging to Him, given to cover her nakedness. If God takes the gifts suddenly and at the very time of the harvest, the punishment would be more severe than if He had taken them after the outlook already was poor.
v. 10. And now will I discover her lewdness, uncover her nakedness and shame to her disgrace, in the sight of her lovers, Cf Eze 16:37, and none shall deliver her out of Mine hand. Cf Jer 13:26; Nah 3:5. While the nations round about were looking on, partly in helpless idleness and partly in malicious joy, Israel was delivered to her punishment.
v. 11. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, the hypocritical evidence of a joy which was no longer real among the people, her feast-days, especially the three highest festivals, Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts, whatever days were observed in the course of the year.
v. 12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, representative of the wealth of the country in farm products. whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me, thus blasphemously taking the honor from the Lord; and I will make them, the fine orchards and vineyards, a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. Cf Isa 7:23 ff. ; Mic 3:12.
v. 13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, punishing her for devoting the great festival days of the Jewish church-year to the service of heathen idols, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, decorating herself for the purpose of making an impression upon those whom she had permitted to seduce her, and she went after her lovers and forgat Me, saith the Lord. That is the outstanding, reprehensible feature of unbelief and idolatry: the rejection of the true God, for He wants no other gods beside Himself.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh is speaking to Hosea.
Read full note →
My people!
This exclamation may be presented as a statement. AT: "You are my people!" (See: Exclamations)
You have been shown compassion
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Yahweh has shown you compassion" (See: Active or Passive)
compassion
"kindness" or "mercy"
translationWords
brother
people group
sister
compassion
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 vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13 2:1 Ammi—‘My people’: God will also restore the name…
2:1 Ammi—‘My people’: God will also restore the name of the third child to its covenantal meaning. • Ruhamah—‘The ones I love’: Israel will once again be the object of God’s love and compassion.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.