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.
Parallel Translations
-
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.
-
For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
-
(2-10) For she did not know that it was I that gave her the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Hosea 2:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 1:3 The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”
- Ezekiel 16:16-19 You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shall not happen, neither shall it be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them. You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Hosea 4:11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- Hosea 8:4 They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I didn’t approve. Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off.
- Hosea 13:2 Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’
- Romans 1:28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- Exodus 32:2-4 Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.” All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
- Judges 9:27 They went out into the field, harvested their vineyards, trod the grapes, celebrated, and went into the house of their god and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.
- Judges 17:1-5 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May Yahweh bless my son!” He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made a carved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah. The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
- Isaiah 24:7-9 The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases. They will not drink wine with a song. Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it.
- Isaiah 46:6 Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down— yes, they worship.
- Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
- Daniel 5:3-4 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of God’s house which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
- Daniel 5:23 but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways.
- Hosea 2:5 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.’
- Habakkuk 1:16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.
- Luke 15:13 Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
- Luke 16:1-2 He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’
- Acts 17:23-25 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
- Jeremiah 44:17-18 But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
- Hosea 10:1 Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain God here amplifies the ingratitude of the people, that…
God here amplifies the ingratitude of the people, that they understood not whence came such abundance of good things. She understood not, he says, that I gave to her corn and wine. The superstitious sin twice, or in two ways; — first, they ascribe to their idols what rightly belongs to God alone; and then they deprive God himself of his own honour, for they understand not that he is the only giver of all things, but think their labour lost were they to worship the true God. Hence the Prophet now complains of this ingratitude, She understood not that I gave to her corn and wine and oil. And this was an inexcusable stupidity in the Israelites, since they had been abundantly instructed, that the abundance of all good things, and every thing that supports man, flow from God’s bounty. Of this they had the clear testimony of Moses; and then the land of Canaan itself was a living representation of the Divine favour. It was then a prodigious madness in the people, that they who had been taught by word and by fact, that God alone is the Giver of all things, should yet not consider this truth. The Prophet, therefore, condemns this outrageous folly of the people, that neither experience nor the teaching of the law availed anything, She knew not, he says. There is stress to be laid on the pronoun, she; for the people ought to have been familiarly acquainted with God, inasmuch as they had been brought up in his household, as a wife, who is her husband’s companion. It was then incapable of any excuse, that the people should thus turn their minds and all their thoughts away from God.
She knew not then that I had given to her corn and wine and oil, that I had multiplied to her the silver, and also the gold she has prepared for Baal The verb עשה means specifically, to make: but here to appropriate to a certain purpose. They have, therefore, prepared gold for Baal; when they ought to have dedicated to me the first-fruits of all good things, in obedience to me and to the honour of my name, they have appropriated to Baal whatever blessings I have bestowed on them. We then see that in this verse two evils are condemned, — that the people deprived God of his just honour, — and that they transferred to their own idols what they ought to have given to God only. But he touched upon the last wickedness in the fifth verse, where he said in the person of the people, I will go after my lovers, who give my bread and my waters, my wool and my wine, etc. Here again he repeats, that they had prepared gold for Baal.
Read full note →
As to the word Baal, no doubt the superstitious included under this name all those whom they called inferior gods. No such madness had indeed possessed the Israelites, that they had forgotten that there is but one Maker of heaven and earth. They therefore maintained the truth, that there is some supreme God; but they added their patrons; and this, by common consent, was the practice of all nations. They did not then think that God was altogether robbed of his own glory, when they joined with him patrons or inferior gods. And they called them by a common name, Baalim, or, as it were, patrons. Baal of every kind was a patron. Some render it, husband. But foolish men, I doubt not, have ever had this superstitious notion, that inferior gods come nearer to men, and are, as it were, mediators between this world and the supreme God. It is the same with the Papists of the present day; they have their Baalim; not that they regard their patrons in the place of God: but as they dread every access to God, and understand not that Christ is a mediator, they retake themselves here and there to various Baalim, that they may procure favour to themselves; and at the same time, whatever honour they show to stones, or wood, or bones of dead men, or to any of their own inventions, they call it the worship of God. Whatever then, is worshipped by the Papists is Baal: but they have, at the same time, their patrons for their Baalim. We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet in this verse.
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 This declareth that idolaters defraud God of his honor,…
This declareth that idolaters defraud God of his honor, when they attribute his benefits to their idols.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 2:8 For she did not know that I…
Hos 2:8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, [which] they prepared for Baal.
Ver. 8. For she did not know] i.e. She would not be known or affected, of this she was willingly ignorant, 2Pe 3:5. Ut liberius peccet libenter ignorat, as Bernard. Her ignorance was not a mere nescience, or an invincible ignorance, such as she could not help; but it was wilful, affected, acquired: they not only desired not the knowledge of God’s ways, but hated it, spurned and scorned at it, shutting the windows lest the light should come in: and being blinded by the god of this world, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them 2Co 4:4, lest they should see and say that which nature and Scripture do both teach them, viz. that all their accommodations and comforts come from me alone. Had this their ignorance been merely negative, yet had they not been wholly excused ( Tu aedepol, si sapis quod scis nescies. Terent.). The apostle noteth, that our Saviour laid down his precious life even for the not-knowings of the people which were such as they could not help, Heb 9:7 (υπερ των του λαου αγνοηματων), but their ignorance being affected, it was a high degree of ingratitude and impudence, and a very great aggravation of their sin: it made it to be sin with an accent, wickedness with a witness. Israel was herein worse than the ox and the ass (that "knows his owner and his master’s crib," Isa 1:3), they fell below the stirrup of reason, nay, of sense. Hence God so stomacheth the matter both there and here. Non semel hoc peccatum carpit, saith Mercer: he cannot satisfy himself in saying how much it troubled him to be thus unkindly, ungratefully, and unreasonably dealt withal: it runneth in his thoughts, his heart is grieved at it, and he must vent himself. And when he hath told his grief, and aggravated his wrong, yet he hath not done with it: but is upon it again and again; still convincing, upbraiding; charging Israel for their foul and inexcusable unfaithfulness and unthankfulness. Eandem sententiam quia sancta et necessaria est, repetit, saith Oecolampadius here; he repeats over the same he had said before, out of the trouble of his spirit, and that they might once lay it to heart and be humbled.
Read full note →
That I gave her corn and wine and oil, &c.] A great deal more than she reckons upon, Hos 2:5, and yet pays her rent there to a wrong landlord too. God is well content that we have the benefit and comfort of his creatures, so he may have the praise: this is all the rent he looks for; and this he indents with us for, Psa 50:15; the saints also, knowing his mind, promise it him, and bind themselves to it, as did Jacob, Gen 28:20-21; David, Psa 51:15. For they know that ingratitude forfeits all (as in this text. She would not know, but I will make her know: ut qui ex copia datorero non senserunt, sentiant ex penuria, for she shall fast another while, and go naked), like as the merchant’s non-payment of customs may prove the utter loss of all his commodities. Hence their first care to see God in all, as Moses often urgeth this people in Deuteronomy, to taste the superabundant sweetness of God in the sweetness of the creatures; to look upon all as swimming towards them in the blood of Christ, as being a piece of his purchase; and this exceedingly sweeteneth all their comforts. "God give thee the dew of heaven," saith Isaac to his son Jacob, Gen 27:28. Profane Esau, likewise, had the like, but not with a God give thee, neither cared he how he had it, so he had it any way; but it is otherwise with the saints. See but the difference in these two brethren long after this, Gen 33:9; Gen 33:11, Esau, as a mere natural man, contenting himself (like a brute beast made and taken to be destroyed) with a natural use of the creature, cries out, "I have enough, my brother: keep that thou hast to thyself." But mark how Jacob delivers himself in another manner: "Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." See a like difference between the rich fool’s Habes multa, "Thou hast much goods laid up for many years," Luk 12:19, and David’s doxology, 1Ch 29:13; 1Ch 29:16, "O Lord our God, all this store cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own." And to the same purpose speaks Eliezer, Gen 24:35, "The Lord hath given my master flocks, herds, silver, gold"; and Job, Job 1:21. The neglect of this observing of God and ascribing all to him is the source of much sin in the world, and the mother of much mischief. Jer 2:5, God chargeth his people that they were gone far from him, and had made his heritage an abomination, Hos 2:7, and why? but because they did not say, "Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt?" &c., Hos 2:6. Were men but sensible of what God doth for them every day and hour, they could not in equity and common ingenuity serve him as they do. He preserveth and provideth for us all; lays us down and takes us up, gives us all things richly to enjoy, commanding the best of his creatures to cater for us, Hos 2:21, and to bring us in the best of the best for our subsistence, Psa 8:1-9. Every good gift temporal, and perfect giving spiritual and eternal, cometh from the Father of lights, Jas 1:17, as naturally and as constantly as light doth from the sun, or water from the sea. Let us therefore imitate those lights of heaven and rivers of the earth, do all the good we can with those good things God hath given us, grain, wine, silver, gold, &c., and then reflect back toward, and return all the glory and praise unto the sun of our righteousness and sea of our salvation. The beams of the moon and stars return as far back to glorify the face of the sun which gave them their beauty, as they can possibly. Let us likewise ever send back to God’s own glorious self the honour of all his gifts, by a fruitful improvement of them, and fresh songs of praise. Let the streams of God’s daily bounty lead us (as the water course doth, either upward to the spring, or downward to the main ocean) to the source and fountain whence they flow. Let the returns we make be from God, of God, to God; from him as the efficient, of him as the material, and to him as the final cause. David joineth these three together, Psa 86:4-5; and Paul, Rom 11:36. In fine, let us labour to be like the full ears of grain that hang down the head toward the earth, their original. Or if any be so graciously exalted, so freely favoured above his fellows, that his stalk is so stiff that it beareth him up above the rest of his ridge, let him look up to heaven; not in thoughts of pride, but humble vows of thankfulness. Be not as horse and mule, that drink of the brook, but never think of the spring; or as swine, that haunch up the mast, but never look up to the tree; or as the barren earth, that swallows the seed, but returns nothing to the sower.
Which they have prepared for Baal] Or, wherewith they have made Baal: lavishing gold out of the bag, and weighing silver in the balance, they hired a goldsmith, and he made it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship, Isa 46:6. This Baal was a special idol of the Zidonians, but first of the Chaldees, who called him Bel; the Carthaginians, Bal, whence those compositions Hannibal, Hasdrubal; as among the Babylonians Belteshazzar, Mehelabel, &c. Varro (though a heathen) inveighs much against idols and images, and saith, that they that first brought them increased error, and took away fear, errorem auxerunt, metum dempserunt. Plutarch saith, it is a sacrilege to worship by images, &c. It is thought they came first from Babylon. For Ninus having made an image of his father, Belus (this Baal in the text), all that came to see it were pardoned for all their offences; whence, in time, that image came to be worshipped. A great promoter of this kind of idolatry in Israel was Ahab, in favour of his wife, Jezebel, and to ingratiate with her kindred, 1Ki 16:31, and this was the ruin of his house. This Baal was by the Zidonians called Jupiter Thalassius, or their sea Jupiter, and is thought to be their chief god. They had their Dii minorum gentium, petty gods (called in Scripture the host of heaven, the queen of heaven, and a little farther in this chapter Baalim); the Greeks called them Dαιμονες: which, saith Plato, are certain middle powers or messengers between God and man, to carry up prayers, and bring down blessings, &c. Quam autem haec daemonum theologia conveniat cum sanctorum et angelorum cultu apud pseudochristianos, res ipsa loquitur, saith learned Master Mede. How this doctrine of devils or heathen deities agreeth with saint worship and angel worship among Papists is easy to be discerned. A great stumbling it is to both Jews and Turks, who know it to be contrary to the first commandment, and image worship to the second (Melch. Ad. de Germ. Theol.). Whence the Turks will not endure any images, no, not upon their coins. And Paulus Jovius tells us, when Sultan Solyman had taken Buda, in Hungary, he would not enter into the chief temple of that city, to give praise to Almighty God for the victory, till all the images were first down, and thrust out of the place. We read also of a certain Turkish ambassador who, being demanded why the Turks did not turn Christians? he answered, Because the Christian religion is against sense and reason; for they worship those things that are of less power than themselves, and the works of their own hands: as these in the text, that made them Baal, yea (as if God had hired them to be wicked), they made it of the very gold and silver which he had given them, though for a better purpose. And this was horrible wickedness, hateful ingratitude. This was to sue God with his own money, to fight against him with his own weapons, as David did against Goliath, as Jehu did against Jehoram, and as Benhadad did against Ahab with that life that he had lately given him. I read of a monster who, that very night that his prince pardoned and preferred him, slew him, and reigned in his stead. This was Michael Balbus, and he is and shall be infamous for it to all posterity (Zonarus in Annal.). Ingratitude is a monster in nature. Lycurgus made no law against it, quod prodigiosa res esset beneficium non rependere. To render good for evil is divine, good for good is human, evil for evil is brutish; but evil for good is devilish. And yet, alas! how ordinary an evil is this among us, to abuse, to God’s great dishonour, our health, wealth, wit, prosperity, plenty, peace, friends, means, day, night, grain, wine, silver, gold, all comforts and creatures, our times, our talents, yea, the Holy Scriptures, the gospel of grace, and our golden opportunities, the offers of mercy, and motions of the Spirit, turning our backs upon those blessed and bleeding embracements, and pursuing our lusts (those idols of our hearts), those Baals, that is, lords and husbands that have us at their beck and check? But is this fair dealing? Do we thus requite the Lord, foolish and unwise as we are? Deu 32:5. Holy Ezra thinks there is so much unthankfulness and disingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy, that heaven and earth would be ashamed of it, Ezr 9:13. Should we do so? saith he, oh, God forbid us any such wickedness. Others render it, which they have sacrificed, or dedicated to Baal, for idolaters spare for no cost, dum Deum alienum dotant, as some render that text, Psa 16:4, while they give their goods not to the saints (as David) that are on the earth, but to another god. They lavish gold out of the bag: as we read of a certain king of this land, who laid out as much as the whole crown revenues came to in a year upon one costly crucifix: and of another, that left by a will a very great sum of money for the transporting of his heart, to be buried in the Holy Land, as they called it. How profuse Papists are in decking their images and monuments of idolatry, is better known than that it needeth here to be spoken of. Their lady of Loretto, that queen of heaven, as they call her, stilo veteri, pillar of antiquity, hath her churches so stuffed with vowed presents and memories, as they are fain to hang their cloisters and churchyards with them.
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 For; this unexampled ignorance, or inconsiderateness, was the cause…
For; this unexampled ignorance, or inconsiderateness, was the cause of all this lost labour, and unthankfulness to God.
She, in her rayons and prosperity, as were the days of Jeroboam, in which much of this lewdness was committed, and in which the prophet calls them to repentance,
Read full note →
did not know; considered not, but carried it toward God as if indeed she did not know; nor did she own it or acknowledge it by any suitable obedience and thankfulness to the God of her mercies.
That I gave, without desert or worthiness; it was mercy, and this free, from whence all she had came.
Corn; which is the stay and strength of our life; one necessary corn fort put for all the rest.
Wine and oil: these cheer the heart, and include all provision for delight and sweetness.
And multiplied her silver and gold: the treasures of gold and silver, and all precious things brought in by trade, and increased among them, were the effect of mine undiscerned and unacknowledged bounty and goodness.
Which they, the generality or body of the Jews, these idolatrous Jews,
prepared for Baal; first made the idol with the gold and silver, and next dedicated it to the service of the idol. Sottish ignorance, that with one part of the gold and silver make a god, with the other part provide for sacrifices to be offered to it. Thus one part is advanced to be a deity, the other part of the same mass consecrated to the service of its fellow lump. What absurdities will not down with such fools and sots?
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Therefore will I return, and take away,.... Or, "take…
Therefore will I return, and take away,.... Or, "take away again" (k); an usual Hebraism:
my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof; for though these are the gifts of God to men for their use, and to dispose of for the good of others; yet he retains his property in them, and can and will call them to an account for their stewardship; and, when he pleases, take away both their office, and the good things they were intrusted with, not making a right use of them; and this he does in his own appointed time and season, or at such a time when these are at the best, and the greatest good is expected from them, and which therefore is the more afflictive; as in the time of harvest and vintage, so Kimchi, when corn and grapes are fully ripe; or, as the Targum, in the time of the corn being on the floor, and of the pressure of the wine:
Read full note →
and will recover my wool, and my flax, given "to cover her nakedness"; or, "I will take away"; by force and violence, as out of the hands of thieves, and robbers, and usurpers, who have no right to them, being forfeited; these were given to cover her nakedness, but not to deck herself with for the honour of her idols, or to cherish pride and superstition; see Mat 23:5 these were all taken away when the Romans came and took away their place and nation, Joh 11:48. The Septuagint and Arabic versions give the sense as if these were taken,
that they might not cover her nakedness, or "shame"; but that it might be exposed, as follows:
(k) "iterum capiam", Drusius; "recipiam", Liveleus.
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 Did not know - Did not consider. They -…
Did not know - Did not consider. They - The body of the Jews. Prepared - Dedicated to the service of the idol.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. For she did not know that I…
Verse 8. For she did not know that I gave her corn] How often are the gifts of God's immediate bounty attributed to fortuitous causes-to any cause but the right one!
Which they prepared for Baal.] And how often are the gifts of God's bounty perverted into means of dishonouring him! God gives us wisdom, strength, and property; and we use them to sin against him with the greater skill, power, and effect! Were the goods those of the enemy, in whose service they are employed, the crime would be the less. But the crime is deeply engrained, when God's property is made the instrument to dishonour himself.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Hos 2:8-9. For she did not know — Or,…
Hos 2:8-9. For she did not know — Or, as Bishop Horsley renders it, But she would not know, that I gave her corn, &c. — She did not, or would not consider that all the necessaries she enjoyed, as well as her riches and ornaments, were my gifts, which yet she ungratefully employed in the service of her idols, and in making images of false gods to worship instead of me. Therefore — Or, for the punishment of her ingratitude; will I take away my corn in the time thereof — I will change my manner of acting toward her, and deprive her of the good things she hopes infallibly to enjoy. At the time when she expects to reap the fruits of the earth, her enemies shall invade her and destroy them, or unfavourable seasons shall entirely blast them, or other causes prevent her enjoying them; and will recover my wool and my flax — Will take back again the proper materials I gave for clothing her. This verse, according to Bishop Horsley, speaks “of calamities already begun, and the next describes the progress and increase of them. It appears from all the prophets, and particularly from Amos and Joel, that the beginning of judgment upon this refractory, rebellious people, was in unfruitful seasons, and noxious vermin, producing a failure of the crops, dearth, murrain of the cattle, famine, and pestilential diseases.”
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 For she did not know - The prophet having,…
For she did not know - The prophet having, in summary Hos 2:5-7, related her fall, her chastisement, and her recovery, begins anew, enlarging both on the impending inflictions, and the future mercy. She “did not know,” because she would not; she “would not retain God in her knowledge” Rom 1:28. “Knowledge,” in Holy Scripture, is not of the understanding, but of the heart and the will.
That I gave her corn ... - The I is emphatic (אנכי( ci). “She did not know, that it was I who gave her.” God gave them the “corn, and wine, and oil,” first, because He gave them the land itself. They held it of Him as their Lord. As He says, “The land is Mine, and ye are strangers and sojourners with Me” Lev 25:23. He gave them also in the course of His ordinary providence, wherein He also gave them “the gold and silver,” which they gained by trading. Silver He had so multiplied to her in the days of Solomon, that it was in “Jerusalem as stones, nothing accounted of” 1Ki 10:27, 1Ki 10:21, and gold, through the favor which He gave him 1Ki 9:14; 1Ki 10:10, 1Ki 10:14, was in abundance above measure.
Read full note →
Which they prepared for Baal - Rather, as in the English Margin, “which they made into Baal” (see Hos 8:4; Eze 16:17-19). “Of that gold and silver, which God had so multiplied, Israel, revolting from the house of David and Solomon, made, first the calves of gold, and then Baal.” Of God’s own gifts they made their gods. They took God’s gifts as from their gods, and made them into gods to them. “Baal,” Lord, the same as Bel, was an object of idolatry among the Phoenicians and Tyrians. Its worship was brought into Israel by Jezebel, daughter of a king of Sidon. Jehu destroyed it for a time, because its adherents were adherents of the house of Ahab. The worship was partly cruel, like that of Moloch, partly abominable. It had this aggravation beyond that of the calves, that Jezebel aimed at the extirpation of the worship of God, setting up a rival temple, with its 450 prophets and 400 of the kindred idolatry of Ashtaroth, and slaying all the prophets of God.
It seems to us strange folly. They attributed to gods, who represented the functions of nature, the power to give what God alone gives. How is it different, when people now say, “nature does this, or that,” or speak of “the operations of nature,” or the laws of “nature,” and ignore God who appoints those laws, and “worketh hitherto” Joh 5:17 “those operations?” They attributed to planets (as have astrologers at all times) influence over the affairs of people, and worshiped a god, Baal-Gad, or Jupiter, who presided over them. Wherein do those otherwise, who displace God’s providence by fortune or fate or destiny, and say “fortune willed,” “fortune denied him,” “it was his fate, his destiny,” and, even when God most signally interposes, shrink from naming Him, as if to speak of God’s providence were something superstitious? What is this, but to ascribe to Baal, under a new name, the works and gifts of God? And more widely yet. Since “men have as many strange gods as they have sins,” what do they, who seek pleasure or gain or 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 idol which they have made? Nay, since whosoever believes of God otherwise than He has revealed Himself, does, in fact, believe in another god, not in the One True God, what else does all heresy, but form to itself an idol out of God’s choicest gift of nature, man’s own mind, and worship, not indeed the works of man’s own hands, but the creature of his own understanding?
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 Baal: or they formed idols.
Baal: or they formed idols.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain she did not know that I--not the idols, as…
she did not know that I--not the idols, as she thought: the "lovers" alluded to in Hos 2:5.
which they prepared for Baal--that is, of which they made images of Baal, or at least the plate covering of them (Hos 8:4). Baal was the Phœnician sun-god: answering to the female Astarte, the moon-goddess. The name of the idol is found in the Phœnician Hannibal, Hasdrubal. Israel borrowed it from the Tyrians.
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 8. For — Hebrew, “and.”
8. For — Hebrew, “and.”
She — The use of the Hebrew pronoun before the verb places special emphasis upon the same: “she, though my wife and enjoying countless blessings.”
Read full note →
Did not know — To know is often used in the sense of acknowledge; it may be so here; in life and worship they failed to acknowledge; but the prophet may think of the absence of intellectual apprehension that Jehovah was the source of all blessing.
Corn — (or grain),… [“new”] wine,… oil — The chief products of Canaan (Deu_7:13; Deu_11:14; see on Joe_1:10).
Silver and gold, which they prepared [“used”] for Baal — The possession of silver and gold imported from afar was, in a sense, also due to the divine favor (compare Isa_2:7); the Israelites, failing to recognize the true source, used them — that the relative clause belongs to both nouns seems evident — for Baal: that is, in his honor; either they made more beautiful and splendid his worship or, as the margin R.V. reads, “they made the silver and gold into the Baal,” that is, images of Baal. In view of Hos_8:4, the latter may be preferable (Isa_44:17). Several commentators reject the relative clause entirely because (1) the plural they used is peculiar. Who is the subject? Throughout this section Israel is referred to as she; (2) the singular Baal. Hosea seems to condemn throughout the worship of the Canaanitish Baalim (Hos_2:5) and not that of the one Baal, the god of Tyre; (3) the emphasis is on the giving by Jehovah, not on the use of the blessings for any specific purpose. Marti would go further and omit also “gold,” because of the peculiar order of the words in Hebrew, where silver and gold are not connected. Objection (3) is of no weight. The other peculiarities cannot be overlooked, though opinions may differ as to whether they are sufficiently serious to warrant the rejection of the words.
Hos_2:9 ff., parallel with 6, 7, announce the judgment.
Therefore will I return, and take away — Equivalent to take away again; R.V., “take back.”
Corn… wine… wool… flax — See Hos_2:5; Hos_2:8. In Hos_2:5 Israel had called these things my bread, etc. Here Jehovah suggests that in reality they are his.
Time… season thereof — That is, at harvest time, when under ordinary conditions men may safely expect them.
Given to cover [“which should have covered”] her nakedness — A reminder that without God’s mercy, in her natural condition, “Israel was utterly helpless and destitute.”
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 8. For she did not know that I …]…
8. For she did not know that I …] Rather, and she (the recipient of such favours) hath not taken notice that it was I who gave her the corn, and the new wine, and the fresh oil. Corn, new wine, and fresh oil, are the three great material blessings of the land of Canaan (see Deu_7:13; Deu_11:14; Deu_12:17, &c.).
silver and gold] The fruits of commerce, then, are also the gifts of Jehovah (contrast the language of Isaiah in a different mood, Isa_2:7). The riches of N. Israel are testified to by the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II., where ‘silver and gold, bowls of gold, cups of gold, bottles of gold, vessels of gold’ are mentioned in the tribute paid by Yahua habal Khumri (Jehu, son of Omri) to the Assyrian king.
Read full note →
which they prepared for Baal] Rather, which they have used in the service of the Baal, (i.e. the pretended Baal or ‘lord’ whom they worship). This may allude partly to the overlaying of images with silver and gold, as was the practice in Judah in the time of Isaiah (Isa_30:22), but no doubt refers chiefly to the molten images in the form of a calf (i.e. a small bull), which the first Jeroboam placed on the bâmôth or high places at Bethel and at Dan, and doubtless elsewhere. It is possible, however, to render ‘and who multiplied silver for her, and gold, which (viz. which gold) they have used,’ &c. In this case the reference will be exclusively to the golden bulls. This view is favoured by the Hebrew accentuation.
8–13. The offended Husband describes the compulsion which he will employ towards his faithless wife.
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 (8) Translate in the present tense: and she knows…
(8) Translate in the present tense: and she knows not that it is I who gave, &c. This yearning of Jehovah over the results of his chastisements is a wonderful anticipation of Luke 15.
Corn, and wine . . .—Corn, wine, and oil are here mentioned as the chief indigenous products of Canaan (Gen_27:28; Deu_33:28, &c.). Gold was largely imported from Ophir (probably the west coast of India, where Tamil is spoken: Delitzsch, Genesis, pp. 258-9. On the other hand, Fried. Delitzsch, in his work on the Site of Paradise, p. 99, holds that Ophir was a coast or island between the north end of the Persian Gulf and the south-west corner of Arabia). Silver was obtained from Tarshish, through Phœnician markets. Observe that Israel at this time abounded in the possession of precious metals. (Comp. Isa_2:7; Wilkins, Phœnicia and Israel, pp. 111-116.)
Read full note →
Which they . . . Baal.—They have transformed Jehovah’s gift into an image of Baal. Baal-worship was anterior to calf-worship (Judges 2, 3, 8), and was diametrically opposed to Jehovah-worship, as gross Pantheism is to pure and stern Monotheism.
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 For she din not know that I gave her…
For she din not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
From vers. 6 to 13 inclusive, the suffering and sorrow consequent on, and occasioned by, her sins are enumerated; yet now and again certain aggravations of her guilt crop up. Here we have an account of her ignorance of, and ingratitude to, the true and or of her mercies, together with her sinful misuse and sad abuse of those mercies. The products of the earth which God bestowed on her were corn and wine and oil all that was needed for food, refreshment, and even luxury; the prosperity in trade or commerce with which he favored her resulted in the multiplied increase of silver and gold. The perversion of these blessings consisted in her employment of them in the service of Baal or of idolatry in general. The sin of refusing to acknowledge the Author of such manifold mercies was grievously augmented by this gross abuse of them. The last clause is a relative one, asher, as frequently being understood; while the words asu labbaal do not signify that they made those metals into images of Baal, as implied in the Authorized Version; nor vet that they offered them to Baal according to Gesenius; but that they prepared or employed them in the worship of that idol and the service of idolatry in general. gd, rad. hgd, to cover, multiply, i.e. multitude and plenty covering ever everything; comp. tego, vwOryt, rad. vry, take possession of the brain in intoxicating: rhxy, rad. rhx, to shine. Kimchi remarks as follows: "All the goodness in the possession of which she was, she had not except from me; because I sent my blessing on the corn and wine and oil, and sent my blessing upon the work of their hands, so that they had abundance of silver and gold; but Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.
Read full note →
Vers. 8-13. Prosperity abased and blighted.
In this second strophe of the chapter Jehovah continues to expatiate upon Israel"s ingratitude and infidelity, and warns her with solemn iteration of the punishment awaiting her. These verses speak of
I PROSPERITY PLENTIFULLY BESTOWED. (Vers. 8, 9) The time of Jeroboam II, to which this part of the prophecy refers, was to Israel one of unexampled national wealth. The kingdom seemed as rich and powerful at that period as it had been even in the days of Solomon. The ten northern cantons, we must remember, included the fairest and most fertile districts of Palestine. They possessed the glory of Lebanon, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon," the fruitful meadows of Bashan, and the green pasture-lands of Gilead. So Ephraim was rich in "corn and wine and oil," in "wool and flax," in "silver and gold." But has not God bestowed vastly greater gifts upon our own country? The climate of our island is damp, and its soil only moderately fertile; yet how much wealth there is amongst us! God has exalted Great Britain to heaven. The English nation is colonizing the world. And for what purpose does the Lord confer temporal prosperity? It is with the same design for which he lends us spiritual blessings that we may learn to know him, and love him, and serve him.
II PROSPERITY SHAMEFULLY ABUSED. Israel"s prosperity was only in material things. Although imposing, it was external and hollow. It was not the wealth of well-being; for:
1. The Giver was ignored. (Ver. 8) "She did not know," means that she was not willing to know. Her material prosperity begat pride, and pride engendered forgetfulness of God. But Israel was without excuse. For she had been taught by Moses. (De 8) She had been warned by Elijah. (1Ki 17) Every page of her marvelous history spoke of the Divine bounty. The offering of the first-fruits the three great Hebrew festivals and especially the Feast of Pentecost, were all just so many solemn thanksgivings to Jehovah for the blessings of his providence. It was true that the men of Ephraim still formally observed these institutions, but the living spirit of them had ebbed away; God was no longer remembered as the Giver of all good. And are there not multitudes still, even in Christian lands, who make no grateful acknowledgment of the Divine mercies? They ascribe their successes entirely to their good luck; or, at best, to their skill, or enterprise, or industry, (Hab_1:16) without recognizing the smile of a benignant Providence upon their efforts.
2. The prosperity itself was deified. (Vers. 8, 12, 13) Ephraim prostituted it to the worship of the powers of physical nature. The people became "lotus-eaters;" they were enervated with sensuous pleasure. They regarded their harvests as the gifts of the Baalim the "lovers" wages" which they received from their idols (ver. 12). They employed their silver and gold in the manufacture of images of Baal and Ashtaroth (ver. 8), as well as in the adornment of their persons for the celebration of the idolatrous festivals (ver. 13). But are not similar evils rampant just now amongst ourselves? The air is still full of the spirit of Baalism the deification of force, the worship of success. We meet with this spirit:
(1) In politics. "Witness the French saying: "God is always on the side of the heavy battalions." Witness Prince Bismarck"s motto: "Beati possidentes." Witness the modern English phrase: "British interests," as used to express a rule of diplomacy which some regard as even more binding than the moral Law.
(2) In economics. There can be only one true system of political economy; but in times of trade-disputes the capitalist and the laborer often adhere to diverse systems. The strike and the lock-out are an appeal to physical force a virtual offering of the prayer, "O Baal, hear us!
(3) In philosophy. How many of our modern scientists deify nature under the name of "law"! They repudiate Providence, and recognize only force. They ignore the living God, and substitute in his room some blind impersonal power. They exalt proud reason to the place which should be occupied by a childlike faith. They ask us to accept a reading of the universe which leaves out the fact of sin, and the soul"s hunger for immortality.
(4) In literature. How many of our great authors poet historians, and even moralists have dedicated their golden intellectual gifts to the service of materialism!
(5) In social life. The immense increase of wealth in our time tends to foster ostentatious and luxurious habits. What multitudes "bow the knee" to the Baal of commercial success! With many life consists not in being, but only in having. But" the word of the Lord by Hosea" reminds us that the love of the world is moral harlotry, and that deference to its spirit is Baalism.
III PROSPERITY MISERABLY BLIGHTED. Israel shall suffer:
1. Deprivation. (Ver. 9) She has refused to remember God, therefore he win compel her to think of him. He is the real Proprietor of the corn and wine, of the wool and flax. Israel was only his steward, and yet she has claimed these precious gifts as if they were altogether within her own power. So the Lord will suddenly withdraw them. He will send the foreign foe, or the simoom, or the locusts. He will blast the ears of corn when they are just ready for the sickle. He will destroy the vine-clusters in the very hour of the vintage. He will take away his material gifts from those who worship only a God of corn and wine, forgetting that the true God is "righteous," and "loveth righteousness." It is a simple matter for Divine Providence to pauperize the man who is making his own prosperity an idol. He may do it by means of business losses, or family bereavement, or personal affliction, or by giving power to the monitions of conscience.
2. Chastisement. God can and will "curse our blessings" (Mal_2:2) if we persistently misuse them. So in store for poor Israel there shall be:
(1) Shame. (Ver. 10) The Lord will dishonor her before her idols themselves by withdrawing his gifts, and exposing Israel"s folly in placing her trust in material things.
(2) Mourning. (Ver. 11) The people"s sinfulness and their light-hearted mirth, which they had unnaturally wedded to each other, shall be divorced. What though Israel still professed to observe joyfully the Mosaic festivals? She could have no true gladness in Jehovah, so long as she refused to recognize his supremacy in providence. Her mirth was "the laughter of the fool," and God would turn it into mourning.
(3) Exile. (Ver. 12) The vineyards and the fig orchards shall become "a forest". (Psa_107:33, Psa_107:34) The ravaging Assyrian shall come, like "the boar out of the wood," and root up the vine which was at first brought out of Egypt. Ephraim shall disappear forever from among the nations.
CONCLUSION. We should cherish gratitude to the Hebrew prophets for the great lesson which they constantly teach, viz., that national sin is certain, in the course of providence, to be followed by national calamity. In them is plainest taught and easiest learnt What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so; What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat. (Milton.)
A nation"s strength does not consist in its wealth, nor in its armies, nor in its diplomacy. The true palladium of a commonwealth is its moral character. And the destiny of a people is determined by their willingness to lay to heart the lessons of national chastisement, and to use these as stepping-stones to a purer life. C.J.
Mercies abused.
Ingratitude and insensibility are odious vices; when displayed by God"s intelligent creatures towards their Maker, they are hateful sins. The case is still worse when, as with Israel, the bestowments of a beneficent Deity are employed in the service of a rival and a foe. Jehovah gave to the people silver and gold; the people made of the precious metals shrines to Baal. Yet this is a just picture of the conduct of those who receive gifts from Heaven and use them in the service of sin.
I GIFTS MAY BE RECEIVED AND THE GIVER UNRECOGNIZED. The produce of the soil corn, wine, and oil; the mineral wealth of earth silver and gold, are all the provision of Divine bounty. But, whilst God opens his hands, multitudes, like Israel, take the gifts but give no thought to the Divine Benefactor. The powers of body and of mind which we possess are provided by Divine wisdom and goodness. Yet how often men use them as if they were absolutely their own, and involved no responsibility!
II THE GIFTS OF GOD ARE SOMETIMES TRACED, NOT TO GOD, BUT TO HIS FOES. To take from Jehovah, and then to offer thanks and praise to Baal such was the base and brutish proceeding of Israel. And now men praise themselves, or they praise fortune, or they praise the sinful arrangements of society, for the gifts they owe to Heaven. They "do not know," even as Israel "did not know." It is blamable, inexcusable ignorance, and only Divine forbearance could endure it.
III THE GIFTS OF GOD MAY EVEN BE TURNED AGAINST HIM AS WEAPONS OF REBELLION. Israel took Jehovah"s gold and made of it images of Baal. How often do men employ the wealth which God has enabled them to get, against the Giver, and in the promotion of the cause of error and of vice! How often do they prostitute the faculties and influence which they owe to God, to the service of Satan! The state, the Church, are from God; yet both have too often been made instruments of evil. Only infinite long-suffering could permit such an abuse of what was provided and intended for man"s highest good.
APPLICATION. Ingratitude should be succeeded by repentance; and the abuse of God"s sifts should be laid aside, and followed by lowly consecration. T.
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 For she did not know.
Hos_2:8-9
For she did not know.
Read full note →
Agnosticism
There is a theory which is known to-day by the difficult name Agnosticism. A great deal of worthless thinking may be hidden under that dark term. The meaning is supposed to be not-know-ism. Men do not now say, There is no God; they say, If there is a God, we do not know Him. If this were an intellectual doctrine only, there might appear to be about it somewhat of the charm of modesty. But it is more. What great case does the intellect wholly cover? Is man all intellect? Agnosticism cannot begin and end where it likes. God cannot be expelled from the intellect without the moral quality of the whole nature going down; without the heart also being as agnostic as the mind. Agnosticism is a larger question than any that can be limited to the mere dry intellect. And agnosticism of this kind means not only deprivation of moral sensibility, as expressed in the action of gratitude, but it makes responsibility at once frivolous and impossible. Responsible to whom? Responsibility never reaches its true realisation until it touches the point of reverence--simple, earnest, continual dependence upon God. When a man denies God he cannot do his duty to his fellow-men. The man that does not know God does not know himself. No man can love God without loving Gods image as seen in human kind. Theology--not formal and scientific, but spiritual and inspired--is the fount and origin of beneficence and exalted morality. What is Gods reply to agnosticism? See Hos_2:9. Therefore will I return, and take away My corn, etc. This is rational, just, and simple. Where God is not known, why should He continue His bounty? God never gives bread by itself. When God gives bread to the body He does not want to keep our bones together; He only feeds the body that He may get at the soul. God has therefore determined that if men do not know Him, or ask concerning Him, or recognise the purpose of His ministry, He will come down and claim His corn and wine and wool and flax. This is just. God must keep some control over things. It is good of Him now and then to send a bad harvest. Men begin to ask questions, and to wonder. And what is the issue of this agnosticism? See Hos_2:11-12. This is not vengeance, this is reason; this is not arbitrary punishment, this is a natural consequence and necessity. Divine gifts are abused, are misunderstood, are in some sense resented; what if Divine patience should be outworn, or if only through a temporary suspension of his fortunes man can be brought to consideration 7 Providence is not an arbitrary beneficence, but a critical and discriminating ministry. And there comes a time when God will say to the cloud, Rain no more on that unthankful life; and to the sun, No longer shine on ingratitude so base and desperate. This is Gods method; it is not mysterious; it is simple, frank, direct, intelligible, and just. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The blindness of ingratitude
The superstitious sin twice, or in two ways.
1. They ascribe to their idols what rightly belongs to God alone.
2. They deprive God Himself of His own honour, for they understand not that He is the only giver of all things.
Hence the prophet now complains of this ingratitude. And this was an inexcusable stupidity in the Israelites, since they had been abundantly instructed that the abundance of all good things, and everything that supports man, flow from Gods bounty. (John Calvin.)
That I gave her corn, and wine, and oil.
The misimprovement of providential layouts
The particular offences here charged, are those of a wilful blindness with regard to the source of their temporal blessings, and a guilty perversion of them to sinful and idolatrous uses. They ascribed them to the agency of their heathen deities, to whom they were also in the habit of consecrating them in sacrifice. But the misimprovement of providential favours is very offensive to God.
I. When are men properly guilty of this conduct?
1. When they fail to recognise God as the sole bestower of them. This was the sin of Israel. Absolute ignorance of the source whence temporal blessings flow is not affirmed. It was that Gods agency was ignored. Israel rested in second causes. Men talk of their good fortune, or their luck, or their well-to-do ancestors, but God is not in all their thoughts.
2. When they withhold the due acknowledgment of them. Not to know a thing, in Scripture language, often means not to act in a manner corresponding with our knowledge. The people did not render to God according to that which they had received. For all His gifts God expects a proper return, the return of thanksgiving and service. But how universally is this withheld.
3. When they pervert them to evil and illegitimate uses. They prepared for Baal. The people took their blessings from God, and devoted them to the service of an idol. This was translating indifference into insult and defiance. And the guilt is as common now as in the olden time.
II. What are the features in it that:evince its peculiar sinfulness?
1. It involves the sin of inconsideration. It argues a mind wrapped up in utter heedlessness of all that is most adapted to awaken and engage its powers.
2. It is characterised by the basest ingratitude. This is a positive element. Ingratitude implies an actual check put upon mans feelings--a sort of moral pressure brought to bear upon them, to prevent their proper exercise and expression. And man wills it. It is not simply the negation of thankfulness; it is the deliberate exercise of its contrary. And this is the sin of the many.
3. It is a species of practical atheism. It is animated by a spirit that militates against the very being of God. Or, if it stop short of this, it yet seeks to limit the extent of His rule, and to shut Him out of this earthly province of His dominions. Atheism is but the bud of dislike to God unfolded and outspread into the garish flower.
III. What is the punishment to which this conduct justly exposes? The misimprovement, by neglect or perversion, of Divine favours incurs the danger of their resumption by their great Bestower. Blessings unimproved will not always be continued. There is a point beyond which even the patience and forbearance of the God that delighteth m mercy will not hold out. Neglect, insult, and defiance must end in condign punishment. Then let us be warned. Let us search into our ways. Let us acknowledge our transgressions, and put away our sins from us. So, in wrath will He remember mercy, and avert the punishment that we have so righteously deserved. Timely humiliation, repentance, and prayer are never ineffectual. (C. M. Merry.)
Gods hand to be acknowledged in His good gifts
This was Gods charge against His ancient people, a very heavy charge. They were unmindful of their benefactor. The thanks which they owed to Him they paid to devils. This is human nature; it is what we still see continually. It is a great part of religion to see Gods hand in everything, to trace every instance of protection to His providence, of deliverance to His care, every good gift to His love. The Bible refers everything either directly or indirectly to God.
I. God is constantly represented as the author and giver of all good things (by Jer_5:21-23). God is declared to be the author of all the fruitfulness and plenty which are so beautifully described in Psa_65:1-13. Take St. Pauls words to the people at Lystra, or Moses last charge to the Israelites (Deu_8:11-20). In these passages we have the rain, the harvest, the fruitfulness of the fields and the increase of the cattle, preservation in danger, support in want, power to get wealth, daily protection, the gift of children--all ascribed to God.
II. Examples of good men of old, who referred every blessing they enjoyed to God. Abrahams servant, Jacob, Psalmists, etc. These men had an abiding sense of Gods interference in all their concerns. They looked beyond second causes, and fixed their thoughts at once upon the great First Cause. One feels how different from theirs is the way of speaking common among ourselves. We cannot, indeed, prudently use the name of God as freely as they did. But we may err with undue reticence. If Gods name is seldom in our mouths, there is reason to fear it is seldom in our hearts. It were well that Gods name were more frequently introduced, so it were done with reverence, when we speak of the good gifts which we enjoy. The fixed habit of ascribing all our blessings to God would--
1. Be the surest way to secure the continuance of Gods mercies, and to draw down more.
2. It would keep our faith in exercise. It would enable us to realise Gods presence as our friend and benefactor. It would bring us into sensible communion with God daily. It would draw out our love to Christ. Seeing God in all things helps to make the sunshine of life. To be forward in recognising Gods hand, and blessing Him for His good gifts, is an excellent help to diligence and zeal in Gods service. It only remains that we each press home upon ourselves this blessed duty; and especially that we make sure of our interest in the greatest of all Gods gifts, the gift of His dear Son. (C. A. Hewitley, B. D.)
Misusing gilts
1. How graciously their plenty was given to them. God is a bountiful benefactor.
2. How basely was their plenty abused by them.
(1) They robbed God of the honour of them.
(2) They served and honoured His enemies with them.
3. How justly should their plenty be taken from them. Those that abuse the mercies God gives them to His dishonour cannot expect to enjoy them long. (Matthew Henry.)
All is of God
On the forefront of the Royal Exchange in London are inscribed the words, The earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof. There is also stamped on all our coins of the realm the same acknowledgment, Dei gratis; it is all of Gods grace and goodness.
God acknowledged
Jenny Lind always kept the 7th of March most religiously. She asked her friends--and she was a Christian--always to pray for her on the 7th of March. She kept it as a trysting-day with God. What was the reason? It was that on the 7th of March she rose from her bed unaware of the God-given gift that was in her. By the evening she had realised it; she had got the baptism of her life--she realised that God had put into her a gift of song, the notes of which seemed to have been stolen from an angel in the heavenly choir; and she went to her bed conscious that God had called her to the sacred service of song. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Everything from God
The scribe is more properly said to write than the pen; and he that maketh and keepeth the clock is more properly said to make it go and strike, than the wheels and pegs that hang upon it; and every workman to effect his work, rather than the tools which he useth as his instruments. So the Lord, who is the chief agent and mover in all actions, may more fitly and properly be said to effect and bring to pass all things which are done in the earth, than any inferior or subordinate causes, as meat to nourish us, clothes to keep us warm, the sun to lighten us, friends to provide for us, etc., seeing they are all but His tools and instruments, but as they are ruled and guided by the power and providence of so heavenly a workman. (H. G. Salter.)
God overlooked
In Madeira there is a grove of camelia trees. A gentleman went to see the flowers, and returned much disappointed, as not one was visible. He made a second visit, and was delighted when, looking up, as he had been told to do, he saw a canopy of large white and scarlet flowers, forty feet overhead. In times of difficulty we are apt to look round on earthly agencies for aid, forgetting to look up to God, who in spite of all His glory, is willing to be our helper. (J. Marrat.)
The worship of fortune
Archbishop Trench says, How prone are we all to ascribe to chance or fortune those gifts and blessings which indeed come directly from God--to build altars to Fortune rather than to Him who is the author of every good thing which we have gotten. And this faith of men, that their blessings, even their highest, come to them by a blind chance, they have incorporated in a word; for happy and happiness are connected with hap, which is chance; how unworthy, then, to express any true felicity, whose very essence is that it excludes hap or chance, that the world neither gave nor can take it away. Against a similar misuse of fortunate, unfortunate, Wordsworth very nobly protests, when, of one who, having lost everything else, had yet kept the truth, he exclaims--
Call not the royal Swede unfortunate,
Who never did to Fortune bend the knee.
Success rightly ascribed
In all my career, General Gordon once wrote, I can lay no claim to cleverness, discretion, or wisdom. My success has been due to a series of (called by the world) flukes. When one knows the little one does of oneself, and any one praises you, I, at any rate, have a rising in the gorge which is a suppressed, You lie! Who is he, or who is any man, that he should be praised? I do nothing. Do not flatter yourself that you are wanted--that God could not work without you; it is an honour if He employs you. No one is indispensable, either in this worlds affairs or in spiritual works. Do not send me your paper with anything written about me, he said on parting. I do not want to see it, or to have anything to do with it. These things are not in my hands, and mind, do not forget--no gilt!
God the source of blessings
At the close of the cotton famine in Lancashire the mills in one village had been stopped for months, and the first waggon load of cotton which arrived before they recommenced, seemed to the people like the olive-branch, newly plucked off, which told of the abating waters of the deluge. The waggon was met by the women, who hysterically laughed and cried, and hugged the cotton bales as if they were dear old friends, and then ended by singing that grand old hymn--a great favourite with Lancashire people--Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Which they prepared for Baal.--
Political and social ungodliness
The sin of the nation, the misery which Hosea here laments, was this--the people worshipped their prosperity, unmindful of the God who gave it. Baal-worship was substantially a worship of the forces of nature. Ethically, Baal-worship was the enthronement of force; it was the worship of possession. The Jewish idea in calling Jehovah Lord was that of righteous authority. The character of God was His supreme claim to government. Baal, as Lord, was simply the mysterious unknown proprietor of powers of nature: a mighty possessor, to be honoured as one who could give, propitiated as one who could withhold, or trouble and afflict. Ungodliness in Christian nations corresponds to idolatry among the Jews; the refusal to recognise any higher law than the right of possession, to acknowledge any other rule of conduct than what is prescribed by the necessity of holding and increasing what one has. Baal-worship did not displace the worship of Jehovah, the two existed side by side. Jehovah for the inspiration of their loftiest sentiment; Baal for the meaner concerns of corn and wine and oil. A similar confusion of godliness and ungodliness is found in many a man, perhaps in the most immediately influential majority of the English people to-day. The Gospel has done too much for us to be lightly abandoned. We cannot afford to dispense with the sanctity, the inspiration, the ennobling thoughts and feelings which Christianity brings into individual and family and Church life. But then, how many would confine the Gospel to individual and family and Church life? For politics and society the New Testament morality is too far-fetched, too fine-drawn. This is what we mean by political and social ungodliness. Many a man is personally godly, politically ungodly. This is a fatal mistake. No amount of personal piety will buy God over to give us national and social prosperity while we contemn the principles of righteousness, and regard for men, which the Bible reveals. There is one God, one morality, one rule; the same for nations as for individuals; the same for our social relations with the world as for our Christian relations within the Church. Political ungodliness has to be rebuked by Christian people. We are called on to be watchful, even jealous, in our criticism of public men and measures. Your judgment on political matters will affect the integrity of your personal character, the clearness of your personal faith. Indifference to righteousness in any sphere will sap the foundation of your piety, and blight your spiritual life. Deal with social ungodliness in relation to the conduct of commercial life. We do not find any such toleration of immorality as is common in political life. The conscience of the community is quick to assert itself; the supremacy of righteousness is vindicated, but we do not find godliness absolute and supreme. Deal with the morality of strikes; the utter bewilderment in which the commercial complications of the day, have found men. How is social life presented to us in the Gospel? It says, We are members one of another, Every one of us lives in a community, for the benefit of which he has been called into being, and all social advantages are conferred on him for the sake of the community. We are here in the world to be trained into spiritual manhood, and all material advantages are conferred on us for the sake of the character they help to form and develop. Consider how commercial activity and social life tend to form spiritual character. Social godliness looks for the fulfilment of Gods will in all the action of society. Social godliness and ungodliness are measured if we consider how far we habitually exercise this spirit. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
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 Hos_2:8. Not know] Wilful ignorance and ingratitude, for she…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hos_2:8. Not know] Wilful ignorance and ingratitude, for she was taught by the law and the providence of God. Prepared] Made and mended images of Baal, and devoted them to the support and extension of idolatry.
Read full note →
Hos_2:9. Return] As if absent from men when they abuse his gifts: turn from love to displeasure; from bestowing bounties to withholding them. Recover] Because “I” emphatic, the given not acknowledged. Nakedness] The result of gifts withheld. Take away] by dearth and unfruitful seasons, vermin, judgments, &c.
HOMILETICS
GOD DISHONOURED IN HIS GIFTS TO MEN.—Hos_2:8-9
Israel is still accused and threatened. God will disgust the idolatrous nation, put to shame its delusive fancy that all prosperity came from idols, and bring it to an acknowledgment of dependence upon him. In gross and affected ignorance she fathered all gifts upon her gods.
Here we have—
I. The Gifts of Life bestowed in abundance. Israel was greatly blessed with “corn, and wine, and oil,” the fruits of the land. These productions were the foundation of the nation’s wealth and prosperity, and the means by which “silver and gold” were multiplied. Money was superabundant in Solomon’s reign. “The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones” (1Ki_10:27). Wool and flax for clothing and ornament. God bestows necessities and luxuries upon men; honour and position, leaders and genius, upon nations. The earth yields its increase, and corn and wine, bread and water, are spread before us in the wilderness. The sun sheds forth its light and heat, flowers send forth fragrance, and herbs grow for man and beast. All our possessions and enjoyments come from him. Amid ingratitude, atheism, and vice, life springs up ever new, food is given as plentifully to sustain it, and joy and blessings are poured over all existence. God “is kind unto the unthankful and the evil.” He makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
II. The Gifts of Life received with ingratitude. “She did not know.” She would not know. It was not a mere weakness or infirmity, but wilful ignorance. God had taught her by Moses and the prophets. In their feasts and offerings of first-fruits, in their eventful history and the wonders of providence, the goodness of God was impressed upon their minds. But when the heart is not touched, the memory will fail. The ingratitude of man to man is base. Pitt was soured in temper by the ingratitude which he experienced. “All the eers whom he had made deserted him,” says a writer, “and half of those whom he had served returned his kindness by going over to his enemies.” Divine favours are frozen by human ingratitude and turned into a cause of rebellion. There was no excuse for Israel, and none for men now.
1. Ignorant of the Divine source from whence they come. “I gave her corn.” “God is the giver of every good and perfect gift.” “A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.” But men do not acknowledge God; attribute their comforts to secondary causes, their own skill, their fellow-men, or “good luck.” The ox knows its owner, and the ass his master’s crib, and both are grateful for help: but intelligent beings receive gifts from God, and hoard up for posterity; forget their relation, and pay no dues to their benefactor; but live in known sin and wilful disregard of his love. What tables are spread for us without grace before meat or gratitude after.
2. Ignorant of the benevolent purpose for which they are sent. Grass for cattle, corn and wine to gladden human hearts, flax and wool to clothe and beautify human bodies, and all things richly to enjoy. God has never left “himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” But we claim his bounties as our own, forget the end for which they are bestowed, and under a formal and false religion, employ them for selfish and unworthy ends. “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”
III. The Gifts of Life basely abused. Israel first made golden calves, then mended or made images of Baal with the gold and silver which God had given them. God’s gifts were turned into human idols, worshipped by men’s own hands, and turned into food for sinful lusts. In modern idolatry God’s blessings are abused and employed to maintain and spread the worship of Baal and Bacchus. Gold and silver, houses and land, children and earthly comforts, take the place of God; all are taken as our special right, attributed to our intellect and industry, and employed in the service of idolatry. In providence God is displaced by fortune or fate; in business talent and tact is all; in pursuit of pleasure and gain, the heart and understanding, the soul and body, are wholly devoted to unworthy objects. “Covetousness is idolatry.” Men are “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” Christians are cautioned against “the worship of angels,” and of some it is said “their god is their belly.” Self-will, excessive thirst of aggrandizement, love of applause, undue veneration of creatures, greedy indulgence in lust and animal appetite, and inordinate attachments of every kind, are dishonouring to God and injurious to man, prove a tendency to depart from God, and display the actual and continual forgetting of God’s claims, who says to each individual person, “I am the Lord thy God.” “Thou shalt have no other god before me.”
IV. The Gifts of Life justly withheld. “Therefore will I return and take away my corn.” These things were God’s, not theirs—they were only stewards in trust. He reserves all power to himself, and retains supreme authority over men. If they do not give him his due, unjustly withhold their gratitude and homage, then he will claim his own and take from them what he bestowed for their welfare. God is the sole proprietor, has incontestable right, and to him we must give an account.
1. Gifts abused will be taken away from men. Ingratitude and sinful appropriation will rob us of enjoyments and necessities of life. Idleness and neglect will forfeit all reward. Take from him that which he hath (Luk_8:18; Luk_19:24; Luk_19:26). Keeping, hiding our talents, and non-employment of our time will bring—(a) Divine denunciation, (b) Divine deprivation, and (c) Divine displeasure.
2. Gifts abused will be taken away from men unexpectedly. “In the time thereof,” and “in the season thereof.” Just when they expect them and when men think they are sure of them. God will blast the harvest when it is ready for reaping. The meat shall be taken from their mouths (Joe_1:16); drunkards will awake and weep (Hos_2:5; Hos_2:11); and husbandmen howl. In the fulness of sufficiency men are put into straits (Job_20:22-23); and when they are just about to realize their hopes they will be disappointed. Unseasonable weather, wicked men, and mysterious providences snatch away abused mercies. This punishment is more signal and severe than gradual decay or long-looked for visitation. It is not the work of chance, but a solemn, significant judgment of God which leaves the sinner in want and distress, in shame and utter destitution.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_2:8. Ignorance of God.
1. Negative, inexcusable.
2. Affected, sinful.
3. Wilful, hopeless. “There remaineth no sacrifice if we sin wilfully,” &c.
Ingratitude.
1. Its source, wilful ignorance.
2. Its fruit, (a) forgetfulness of Divine benefits, (b) worship of idols—coarse and refined.
3. Its punishment, withdrawal of all gifts, resulting in poverty and distress. “Were men but sensible of what God doth for them every day and hour, they could not in equity and common ingenuity serve him as they do. He preserveth and provideth for us all; lays us down and takes us up, commanding the best of creatures to cater for us (Hos_2:21), and to bring us in the best of best for our subsistence (Psalms 8). Every good gift and perfect, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, cometh from the Father of lights (Jas_1:17), as naturally and as constantly as light doth from the sun, or water from the sea. Let us therefore imitate those lights of heaven and rivers of earth, do all the good we can with those good things, corn, wine, silver and gold, &c., which God hath given us, and then reflect back towards and return all the glory and praise unto the sun of our righteousness and the sea of our salvation. Let us ever send back (as the beams of the moon and stars return to the face of the sun, which gave them their beauty) to, God’s own glorious self the honour of all his gifts, by a fruitful improvement of them and fresh songs of praise” [Trapp]. God manifests great kindness, whereof little notice is taken, and wherein his hand is not seen nor acknowledged [Hutcheson].
When men will not know God as the giver of all their temporal blessings, they shall be compelled to know him as the withholder of them [Fausset]. Those who abuse the mercies God gives them to his dishonour, cannot expect to enjoy them long [Matt. Henry].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Hos_2:8-9. Ingratitude. When I consider how the goodness of God is abused and perverted by the greatest part of mankind, I cannot but be of his mind that said, “The greatest miracle in the world is God’s patience and bounty to an ungrateful man.” Oh! what would God not do for his creatures, if thankful, that thus heaps the coals of his mercies upon the heads of his enemies? But think not, sinners, that you shall escape thus. God’s mill goes slow, but it grinds small; the more admirable his patience and bounty now is, the more dreadful and insupportable will that fury be which ariseth out of his abused goodness [Gurnall].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh is speaking to Hosea.
Read full note →
I will take back my wool and flax that were used to cover her nakedness
This probably means that Israel's harvests and flocks will fail. Yahweh will remove his blessings from Israel, and the people will be left alone and in danger of attack. (See: Metonymy)
were used to cover her nakedness
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that the people used to clothe themselves" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
grain
wine
oil
silver
gold
Baal
harvest
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 2:8 She doesn’t realize (literally she doesn’t know): Israel…
2:8 She doesn’t realize (literally she doesn’t know): Israel needs to know God personally and experientially. Had the Israelites known the Lord in this way, they would have realized that every good thing in their lives came from him, not from the baals.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.