For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.
Parallel Translations
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For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.
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For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
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For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath hired lovers.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Hosea 8:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 2:24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.
- Ezekiel 16:33-34 People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution. You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.” ’
- Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.
- Hosea 7:11 “Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding. They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria.
- 2 Kings 15:19 Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
- Isaiah 30:6 The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people.
- Job 39:5-8 “Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey, whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place? He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, He searches after every green thing.
- Ezekiel 23:5-9 “Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whoever she lusted after. She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples; and they poured out their prostitution on her. “Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.
- Hosea 2:5-7 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.’
- Hosea 2:10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
- Hosea 12:1 Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here again the Prophet derides all the labour the…
Here again the Prophet derides all the labour the people had undertaken to exempt themselves from punishment. For though hypocrites dare not openly and avowedly to fight against God, yet they seek vain subterfuges, by which they may elude him. So the Israelites ceased not to weary themselves to escape the judgment of God; and this folly, or rather madness, the Prophet exposes to scorn. They have gone up to Assyria, he says, as a wild ass alone; Ephraim had hired lovers In the first clause he indirectly reprobates the brutish wildness of the people, as though he said, “They are like the wild animals of the wood, which can by no means be tamed.” And Jeremiah uses this very same similitude, when he complains of the people as being led away by their own indomitable lust, being like the wild ass, who, snuffing the wind, betakes himself, in his usual manner, to a precipitant course, (Jeremiah 2:24.) Probably he touches also, in an indirect way, on the unbelief of the people in having despised the protection of God; for the people ought not to have thus hastened to Assyria, as if they were destitute of every help, because they knew that they were protected by the hand of God. And the Prophet here reproves them for regarding as nothing that help which the Lord had promised, and which he was really prepared to afford, had not the Israelites betaken themselves elsewhere. Hence he says, Ephraim, as a wild ass, has gone up to Assyria; he perceived not that he would be secure and safe, provided he sheltered himself under the shadow of the hand of his God; but as if God could do nothing, he retook himself to the Assyrians: this was ingratitude. And then he again takes up the similitude which we have before noticed, that the people of Israel had shamefully and wickedly departed from the marriage-covenant which God had made with them: for God, we know, was to the Israelites in the place of a husband, and had pledged his faith to them; but when they transferred themselves to another, they were like unchaste women, who prostitute themselves to adulterers, and desert their own husbands. Hence the Prophet again reproves the Israelites for having violated their faith pledged to God, and for being like adulterous women. He indeed goes farther, and says, that they hired adulterers for wages. Unchaste women are usually enticed by the charms of gain; for when adulterers wish to corrupt a woman, they offer gifts, they offer money. He says that this practice was inverted; and the same thing is expressed by the Prophet Ezekiel; who, after having stated that women are usually corrupted by having some gain or some advantage proposed to them, adds,
‘But thou wastest thine own property, and settest not thyself to hire, but on the contrary thou hirest wantons,’ (Ezekiel 16:31-33.)
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So the Prophet speaks here, though more briefly, Ephraim, he says, has hired lovers
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 They never cease, but run to and fro to…
They never cease, but run to and fro to seek help.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 8:9 For they are gone up to Assyria,…
Hos 8:9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
Ver. 9. For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself] This was that that most moved the Lord to denounce and determine hard and heavy things against Israel, they had suspicious thoughts of God, as if he either could not or would not do for them, and help them out, as the Assyrian (though an enemy) would. This prank of theirs God uttereth here with as great indignation and dislike as old Jacob did his son Reuben’s incest, when he said, "He went up to my couch." The Lord is as jealous of his glory as any man can be of his wife; neither will he give it to another, Isa 42:8; he admits not of any co-rival in heaven or earth, as Potiphar’s wife was his own peculiar. Now God is no way more glorified by us than when we put our trust in his love and faithfulness, and expect from him safety here, and salvation hereafter. For in so doing, we set him up for our king, Jdg 9:15, and put the royal crown upon his head, Son 3:11. As in doing otherwise we turn his glory into shame, "loving vanity, seeking after leasing," Psa 4:2. Hence that angry expostulation, Jer 2:36, "Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way?" How dost thou think to mend thyself by running to the creature, as if there were no God in Israel? "thou also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria: yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head" (after the manner of mourners, 2Sa 13:19), "for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them."
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A wild ass alone by himself] Foolish and fierce above measure, untameable and untractable; loving to be alone, and so becomes a prey to the lion, as saith Siracides, chap. 13. ver. 21. Pliny speaketh much of the wild ass and his properties; and interpreters on this text bring many reasons why Israel is compared to him. Israel is as stupid and as mad as the wild ass, saith Lyra. He is all for himself, saith Junius; he casteth off God’s yoke, saith Tremellius; he is a contemptible creature, saith Kimchi; he walks where he lists, as masterless, saith the Chaldee; he seeketh water in the wilderness, but hardly findeth it, so doth Israel help of the cruel enemies, and hath it not, saith Oecolampadius; he taketh a great deal of pains for his belly, saith Mercer; he cannot be tamed and made serviceable, saith Gesner; he is left alone by God to be carried captive by the Assyrian, saith Ribera. The Scripture describeth the nature of this creature in many places, Gen 16:12 Job 6:5; Job 11:12; Job 24:5; Job 39:5; Job 39:8 Psa 104:11 Isa 32:14 Jer 2:24; Jer 14:6 Dan 5:21.
Ephraim hath hired lovers] This is the second similitude, taken from a most libidinous harlot. See the like baseness in Judah, Eze 16:33. They were so mad upon their idols and creature confidences, that they were at no small charge for them; they lavished money out of the bag, Isa 6:6, and laid on, as if they should never see an end of their wealth. They sent great gifts and sums of money to the Assyrians and Egyptians, and leaned upon them as their champions; they hired loves, as the Hebrew here hath it. But love, as it cannot well be counterfeited (a man may paint fire, but he cannot paint heat), so it cannot at all be hired or purchased. Those that go about it shall find loathing for love, and be scorned of those mercenaries which are seldom either satisfied, or sure.
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 The prophet gives now an account why Israel was…
The prophet gives now an account why Israel was so impoverished, and why they should be so severely punished, why so punished of God, and why so slighted by man.
They are gone up to Assyria; either gone, i.e. have sent ambassadors with rich presents to purchase assistance from Assyria, or gone with their tribute to procure the continuance of the Assyrian confederacy and aids. This confidence and trust in Assyria was accompanied with a casting off their dependence on and subjection to God: this their sin was very great, and their punishment shall, as their sin, be very great. Others refer this going up to their going into captivity into Assyria, and it surely may be a prediction of what shall be (if it be not a narrative of what is) done.
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Assyria was at that time a mighty nation, whose kings were very great, and yet more proud than great, as appears in Sennacherib’s deportment toward God and man. This kingdom had now grown on through Pul, Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, and Sennacherib’s reigns, was a terror to enemies, and the vain confidence of this foolish and sinful people, for which they are particularly threatened and severely punished.
A wild ass: this is differently applied by interpreters; some refer it to the king of Assyria, who is fierce, swift, and haughty as the wild ass, and all for himself; thus the French interpret it: so it suits well; Israel, thou wilt be disappointed in thy expectation from Asshur, a wild ass, who seeks himself only. Others refer
wild ass to Israel, who, wild, untamed, and burning in lust, (as is reported of the wild ass,) rangeth far and wide for lovers, seeks every where for aids and succours.
Alone by himself; solitary, or in a wilderness, where is no path or track: this will well suit them in their captivity, when they shall be left as in a wilderness, and may, as perhaps many did, flee into more remote and desolate places, and ramble into uninhabited places, and there take rooting, and give being to nations which are now known to us, though we know not whence they descended. Or,
alone by himself, in a posture fit to become a prey to the lion of Assyria; so it is reported the lions make a prey of the wild asses in the wilderness; so will Assyria make Israel a prey.
Ephraim hath hired lovers; hath dearly bought the friendship of Assyria in Pul and Shalmaneser’s time, and more dearly bought friendship of Egypt in the time of So, or Sabacon, or Sevechus; for beside all the treasure they laid out on this, they parted with their God for it, and set him against Israel.
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 For they are gone up to Assyria,.... Or, "though…
For they are gone up to Assyria,.... Or, "though they should go up to Assyria" (g); to the king of Assyria, to gain his friendship, and enter into alliance with him; as, when Pal king of Assyria came against them, Menahem king of Israel went forth to meet him, and gave him a thousand talents of silver to be his confederate, and strengthen his kingdom, Kg2 15:19; yet this hindered not but that Israel was at length swallowed up by that people, and scattered by them among the nations; for this is not to be understood of their going captive into the land of Assyria, as the Targum interprets it:
a wild ass alone by himself; which may be applied either to the king of Assyria, and be considered as a description of him, to whom Israel went for help and friendship; who, though he took their present, and made them fair promises, yet was perfidious, unsociable, and inhuman, studied only his own advantage, and not their good: or to the Israelites that went to him, who were as sottish and stupid as the ass, and as headstrong and unruly as that, and, like it, lustful, and impetuous in their lusts; running to and fro for the satisfying of them, and taking no advice, nor suffering themselves to be controlled, and, being alone, became an easy prey to the Assyrian lion: or yet they should be as "a wild ass alone by itself" (h); notwithstanding all the methods they took to obtain the friendship and alliance of the king of Assyria, yet they should be carried captive by him, and dwell in the captivity like a wild ass in the wilderness; and so it is to be understood here, agreeably to Job 24:5; otherwise, as Bochart (i) has proved from various writers, these creatures go in flocks:
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Ephraim hath hired lovers; by giving presents to the kings of Assyria and Egypt, to be their allies and confederates, patrons and defenders, Kg2 15:19; who are represented as their gallants, with whom Ephraim or the ten tribes committed adultery, departing from God their Husband, and liege Lord and King, and from his true worship; see Eze 16:26. R. Elias Levita (k) observes, that some interpret the words, "Ephraim made a covenant with lovers".
(g) "quamvis, etiamsi ascenderint"; so Schmidt observes it may be rendered, though he chooses to render it by "quando", "when they should go up", &c. (h) "erunt onager, qui solitarius sibi est", Schmidt. (i) Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 16. col. 870. (k) Tishbi, p. 267.
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 Gone up - Israel is like a wild ass.…
Gone up - Israel is like a wild ass. A wild ass - Stubborn, wild, untamed. Alone - Solitary, where is no path or tract; so they were in their captivity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. They are gone up to Assyria] For…
Verse 9. They are gone up to Assyria] For succour.
A wild ass alone by himself] Like that animal, jealous of its liberty, and suffering no rival. If we may credit Pliny and others, one male wild ass will keep a whole flock of females to himself, suffer no other to approach them, and even bite off the genitals of the colts, lest in process of time they should become his rivals. "Mares singuli faeminarum gregibus imperitant; timent libidinis aemulos, et ideo gravidas custodiunt, morsuque natos mares castrant." - Hist. Nat., lib. viii., c. 30. The Israelites, with all this selfishness and love of liberty, took no step that did not necessarily lead to their thraldom and destruction.
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Ephraim hath hired lovers.] Hath subsidized the neighbouring heathen states.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For they are gone up to Assyria - The…
For they are gone up to Assyria - The ground of this their captivity is that wherein they placed their hope of safety. They shall be presently swallowed up; “for” they went to Asshur. The holy land being then honored by the spectral presence of God, all nations are said to “go up” to it. Now, since Israel forgetting God, their strength and their glory, went to the Assyrian for help, he is said to “go up” there, where he went as a suppliant.
A wild donkey alone by himself - As “the ox” which “knoweth its owner, and the donkey its Master’s crib,” represents each believer, of Jew or Gentile; Israel, who would not know Him, is called the “wild ass.” The “pere,” or “wild ass” of the East , is “heady, unruly, undisciplinable” , “obstinate, running with swiftness far outstripping the swiftest horse” , whither his lust, hunger, thirst, draw him without rule or direction, hardly to be turned aside from his intended course.” Although often found in bands, one often breaks away by himself, exposing itself for a prey to lions, from where it is said, “the wild donkey is the lion’s prey in the wilderness” (Ecclus. 13:19). Wild as the Arab was, a “wild ass’ colt by himself” , is to him a proverb for one , “singular, obstinate, pertinacious in his purpose.” Such is man by nature Job 11:12; such, it was foretold to Abraham, Ishmael would be Gen 16:12; such Israel again became; “stuborn, heady, selfwilled, refusing to be ruled by God’s law and His counsel, in which he might find safety, and, of his own mind, running to the Assyrian,” there to perish.
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Ephraim hath hired lovers or loves - The plural, in itself, shows that they were sinful loves, since God had said, “a man shall cleave unto his wife and they twain shall be one flesh.” These sinful “loves” or “lovers” she was not tempted by, but she herself invited them (see Eze 16:33-34). It is a special and unwonted sin, when woman, forsaking the modesty which God gives her as a defense, becomes the temptress. “Like such a bad woman, luring others to love her, they, forsaking God, to whom, as by covenant of marriage, they ought to have cleaved, and on Him alone to have depended, sought to make friends of the Assyrian, to help them in their rebellions against Him, and so put themselves to that charge (as sinners usually do) in the service of sin, which in God’s service they need not to have been at.”
And yet that which God pictures under colors so offensive, what was it in human eyes? The “hire” was presents of gold to powerful nations, whose aid, humanly speaking, Israel needed. But wherever it abandoned its trust in God, it adopted their idols. “Whoever has recourse to human means, without consulting God, or consulting whether He will, or will not bless them, is guilty of unfaithfulness which often leads to many others. He becomes accustomed to the tone of mind of those whose protection he seeks, comes insensibly to approve even their errors, loses purity of heart and conscience, sacrifices his light and talents to the service of the powers, under whose shadow he wishes to live under repose.”
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 Wild ass. It is very jealous of liberty, (Job…
Wild ass. It is very jealous of liberty, (Job xi. 12.) and of its females, so that it prevents the young males from becoming its rivals. (Pliny, [Natural History?] viii. 30.; Solin xxx.) --- If this were true, the species would soon perish. (Haydock) --- The Israelites disdained subjection to strangers. They even rejected God, their king; for which reason he abandons them to servitude, in a foreign land. They had run furiously after idols, and had given presents to such lovers.
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 gone . . . to Assyria--referring to Menahem's application…
gone . . . to Assyria--referring to Menahem's application for Pul's aid in establishing him on the throne (compare Hos 5:13; Hos 7:11). Menahem's name is read in the inscriptions in the southwest palace of Nimrod, as a tributary to the Assyrian king in his eighth year. The dynasty of Pul, or Phalluka, was supplanted at Nineveh by that of Tiglath-pileser, about 768 (or 760) B.C. Semiramis seems to have been Pul's wife, and to have withdrawn to Babylon in 768; and her son, Nabonassar, succeeding after a period of confusion, originated "the era of Nabonassar," 747 B.C. [G. V. SMITH]. Usually foreigners coming to Israel's land were said to "go up"; here it is the reverse, to intimate Israel's sunken state, and Assyria's superiority.
wild ass--a figure of Israel's headstrong perversity in following her own bent (Jer 2:24).
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alone by himself--characteristic of Israel in all ages: "lo, the people shall dwell alone" (Num 23:9; compare Job 39:5-8).
hired lovers--reversing the ordinary way, namely, that lovers should hire her (Eze 16:33-34).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. gone up] Used, like ἀναβαίνω, of going inland…
9. gone up] Used, like ἀναβαίνω, of going inland (‘up the country’).
a wild ass alone by himself] Rather, a wild ass taking his own way by himself. The point of comparison is obstinacy. The wild ass is a gregarious animal, but individuals in the herd will sometimes go and roam moodily and obstinately by themselves. See Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, pp. 41–43, and Davidson’s full note on Job_35:5-8. Ishmael is compared to the wild ass in Gen_16:12, and now it appears that Israel is no better than Ishmael. In spite of warnings, he will have his way, though intercourse with Assyria is his ruin.
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Ephraim hath hired lovers] Rather, loves. The allusion is to the gifts by which Israel sought to gain the Assyrian or Egyptian alliance (Hos_12:2). The Sept. evidently had a different, though probably not a more correct text.
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 (9) Gone up to Assyria.—The word thus translated is…
(9) Gone up to Assyria.—The word thus translated is elsewhere used for “going up” to the sanctuary of the Lord. (See Note on Hos_7:11.) Wild ass is the image of untamed waywardness (Job_39:5, sea.) it is described by Wetzstein as inhabiting the steppes, a creature of dirty yellow colour, with long ears and no horns, and a head resembling a gazelle’s. Its pace is so swift that no huntsman can overtake it. It is seldom seen alone, but in herds of several hundreds. From Jer_2:24 we infer that the animal wanders alone after the object of its lust. Israel, like a solitary wild ass, seeks strange loves, courts strange alliances. On the last clause, see Eze_16:32-34. Ephraim pays abnormally for her own shame.
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 they are gone up to Assyria, a wild…
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers. All their misery and misfortune they have brought upon themselves. They have prepared this fate for themselves, and made themselves meet for their fate. The second clause is correctly rendered, a wild ass goes alone by itself; and this clause is an independent statement not connected by n- of comparison either with the clause preceding nor with the succeeding one. Instead of saying that Epraim, that is, Israel, went up to Assyria like a stubborn wild ass alone by itself, or that like a wild ass going alone Ephraim hired (sued for) lovers, the statement stands independent and in a measure detached, the meaning being that even a wild ass, stupid and stubborn as that animal is, keeps by itself to secure its independence. The conduct of Israel, however, appears to disadvantage in contrast with that of a stupid wild ass; it is more stupid and senseless; their folly is seen by the comparison: it maintained its independence by going alone, Ephraim lost independence by soliciting help from heathen allies. What, then, was the object to the attainment of which this foolish conduct was directed? In other words, why did Israel go on this stupid mission to Assyria? What did they seek to gain by it? The third clause contains the answer: they sought help and succor from the Assyrians. Thus the first clause, giving a reason for their calamity, shows it was self-procured by Ephraim going up to Assyria; the second clause exposes the folly of such conduct in seeking prohibited and pernicious foreign alliances; the third clause specifies the precise object of Ephraim"s sinful and foolish mission, namely, the procuring of succor from Assyria. The above explanation,
(1) which is in substance Keil"s, and which is a contrast between the independence of the wild ass and Ephraim"s servile suing for foreign help, is, we think, simpler and more correct than
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(2) the common one, which is a comparison of the willfulness, waywardness, and wantonness of the wild ass roaming solitarily by itself with Ephraim"s willful waywardness in going up to Assyria for succor, and wantonness in suing for idolatrous alliances. The expression, going up," alludes to going to the interior of the country, or to the capital of the monarch Assyria now owned as sovereign, or to a place of refuge. The hiring of lovers, or lover, by Ephraim stigmatizes their shameful conduct as that of a shameless harlot, who, instead of receiving, bestows presents on lovers, or as the reward of endearments.
Vers. 9-13. The justice of the judgments threatened with further additions.
Their errand to Assyria added to their sin; they sought heathen helpers to uphold them in their apostasy and idolatry, increasing their sin.
I ONE SINFUL ACT IS PROLIFIC OF MANY MORE. One sinful course draws on another, just as one lie necessitates one or more to make it plausible, or prop it up or cloak it. The revolt from the Davidic dynasty was a wrong step and a sinful one; the idolatry Of the calves was still more wicked. The progression was from bad to worse; but to have recourse to foreign allies to secure them in their twofold national iniquity was yet another step down the steep incline of sin.
II SIN IS AT ONCE A FOOLISH AND EXPENSIVE THING.
1. Ephraim"s conduct was as perverse in this regard as the headstrong wild ass that refuses all restraint, and stubbornly pursues its own headlong course through the desert; or, if it be a contrast and not a comparison, the folly of Ephraim is reproved by the wild ass, which is sufficiently wise to roam at large in its own solitary way, keeping aloof from all interference with its liberty and retaining its independence.
2. But Epraim"s folly cost them dear. Like a shameless wanton, wooing and not waiting to be wooed, they resorted to sinful helps which were as much adultery as idolatry itself; they hired help by such adulterous alliances. The help they thus procured in reality helped them not; they submitted to the suzerainty of Assyria, and became subject to imposts and tribute. To escape one master, men sometimes put themselves in the power of a worse, repeating the experience of the poet"s fable A lordly stag, arm"d with superior force, Drove from their common field a vanquish"d horse, Who for revenge to man his strength enslaved, Took up his rider and the bit received; But, though he conquer"d in the martial strife, He felt his rider"s weight, and champ"d the hit for life.
II GOD ALONE IS THE SURE REFUGE OF HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR STRAITS. In time of trouble men often sin against God, and sin against their own soul by going elsewhere in search of help. If in their straits they seek help of God, all will be well with them in the end. When trouble comes, when affliction comes, when we are in distress, instead of simple shifts we are to seek help from God; instead of putting confidence in creaturely succors, we must apply to the Creator. To neglect him and sue for relict elsewhere, is forsaking our own mercies and turning our back on God; to depart from God and depend on sinful means of help, is hurtful in the effort and in the effect, as well in the emergency as in the issue and end. Nor need we ever distrust his care or doubt his kindness, if only in earnest we apply to him; his help is real, his help is effectual; he bestows it without stint and without fee or reward, without money and without price. As the psalmist sings so beautifully God is our Refuge and our Strength, In straits a present Aid; Therefore, although the earth remove, We shall not be afraid.
IV WRONG MEANS OF HELP PROVE RUINOUS. The help which Israel hired among the heathen, so far from availing them, put them in a worse position than before.
1. God would frustrate their purpose, gathering their hired allies against them, or themselves as exiles among aliens and enemies. If "a little " be not referred to time nor understood ironically, it may mean that heavy as was the tribute imposed by the Assyrian monarch, and grievous to be borne so that it caused revolt, it was the source of little grief compared with what followed, when first a portion and then the whole of the nation were carried into Captivity.
2. Partly similar and partly dissimilar is the following exposition of Kimchi: "They at first murmured and complained on account of the burthen of the king and the princes, as is written in the Book of Kings that the kings of the nations imposed tribute on them; and this the prophet calls a trifle in comparison with the Captivity." The taxes and burdens with which they were oppressed were, indeed, mere trifles, and easily borne in respect of the Captivity and the calamities that succeeded.
3. "A people," says an old expositor, "who have suffered under lesser trouble, and yet have made no right use of it to prevent more, or have used sinful means to be rid of it, may expect no other issue but that the Lord will send a greater trouble to make them forget the former; for this had been their carriage under their tribute and burdens, and they are therefore told they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes." Further, the means that men use will be of little avail so long as they refuse to acknowledge God, while the most prudent plans of their own devising, if unsanctioned and unblessed by him, end in disappointment and disaster; what they hire for their preservation becomes their undoing, and issues in destruction. Israel had applied to Assyria, and as the result of that application "began to be minished through the burden of the king of princes" (according to one rendering of the clause). First came the exactions of Pul, then the captivity of Gilead by Tiglath-pileser, and in the end the deportation of all Israel by Shatmaneser.
V A SHOW OF RELIGION WITHOUT THE SUBSTANCE SERVES ONLY TO INCREASE BIN. God had, from the time of Moses, appointed one altar at Jerusalem; and when, in the days of Joshua, the trans-Jordanic tribes were thought by their brethren to have built an altar in violation of the Divine appointment, it called forth a most vigorous remonstrance: "What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord?" It was only on receiving an explanation that it was not a sacrificial but monumental altar that the western brethren were reconciled.
1. Now, however, they had so far degenerated that beside the once central altar at Jerusalem they had one at Dan, another at Bethel, and others on every high hill and any other place that pleased them. This multiplication of altars had the appearance of religion, but only the appearance; these many altars were in all likelihood made for the ostensible purpose of offering expiatory sacrifices for sin, but were actually an augmentation of the people"s sin, each altar becoming an additional element in the national transgression.
2. They had turned aside from God for human help; next they turned aside from the divinely appointed mode of worship to bureau methods, substituting for the pure service of the Most High the miserable semblance of self-devised religiousness. They had made many altars, which, however intended, resulted in the commission of sin; and now these many altars, instead of expiating their sins or making amends for their transgressing God"s express command, are counted to them for sin and bring them in guilty before God, not to speak of the fact that the multiplication of altars to the true God would occasion the further sin of dedicating altars to other and strange gods. If men corrupt religion, however plausible their pretext, they do it at unspeakable peril to their own soul and the souls of others,
VI THERE IS NO REASONABLE EXCUSE FOR SIN. This was specially the case with Israel, and still more particularly with ourselves. If Israel had been left in heathen darkness, if they had been ignorant of the Divine statutes and judgments, if they had not enjoyed the high privilege of being made the custodians of God"s living oracles, there might have been some excuse for them, though indeed natural reason is sufficient to leave even the heathen without any reasonable excuse for idolatry.
1. But how different it was with Israel! God had made known to them, and that in permanent written record, the many lessons of his Law; but much as God had done for the people of Jewry, still more has he done for the peoples of Christendom, for while the Law came by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We have in our hands, and for daily perusal, the wondrous things of the Law and the gracious things of the gospel; the twin lips of God"s great oracle speak to us.
2. Many and great are the lessons of the written Word. Many as they are in number, they are yet greater in importance great in their origin, for they come from God and are given by inspiration of his Spirit; great in their utility to man, for they make him acquainted with the things that pertain to life and godliness; great in their issues, for the interests of eternity are intertwined with them and depend on them; great as revealing the one living and true God, the way of his worship, his well-beloved Son our only Savior, and the plan of salvation by him.
3. Proportionately great is the sin of neglecting them. Israel, though God had been at pains to write to them the great things of his Law, turned their back upon them as something strange in which they had no concern, and with which they were disinclined to intermeddle, and which, even if attended to, could prove of little moment. These things, in greater measure and with greater fullness, have been handed on to us; for, though written long ago, they were written for our learning. What a terrible responsibility rests on us if we neglect these things from indifference, or slight them from contempt, or refuse to be directed, guided, and governed by them, or reject them altogether as unworthy of our observance and obedience, or as unsuitable to a progressive age and present circumstances!
VII SELFISH SERVICES ARE VOID OF SIGNIFICANCE. "Most part of worshippers follow the external duties of religion no further than their own ends lead them; and men"s own advantage is the upholder of all false religion, for they sacrifice and eat it.
1. They feasted on their sacrifices. This was allowable in the case of peace offerings and thank offerings; but in the case of the burnt offerings they were wholly consecrated to God, and ascended (according to the import of the name) in the altar-smoke to heaven. Israel was not, it is probable, careful to mark the distinction or restrict their appetite in the case. It is right and proper that we should carry our religion into our business, but decidedly wrong to carry our business, with all its selfishness or greed of gain, into our religion.
2. Their worship was a lifeless, soul-less, unspiritual service. Besides being offered in the wrong place and by the wrong persons that is, in places forbidden and by unauthorized persons, such as Jeroboam"s priests they were offered without the right aim or right end, or any true devotion of spirit. It was mere external worship, without spiritual affections, or spiritual dispositions, or spiritual life; and therefore such sacrifices wanted the proper qualities and necessary characteristics of sacrifice; they were, in fact, only flesh, and the victims only carcasses, and consequently the Lord could not away with them; he accepted them not.
3. A proper spirit, a pure heart, and clean hands are among the conditions of acceptable service. God, by the Prophet Isaiah, after affirming his respect to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembling at the Divine Word, adds in relation to the opposite character, "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog"s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine"s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol." So in the New Testament we are required to present "reasonable service," or service in which the soul and spirit are engaged, as opposed to what is merely outward and corporeal. 4. Unhallowed services only remind God of the offences of the worshippers, whose sins in consequence he remembers, not to pardon them, but to punish them. The God that redeemed them and brought them out of Egypt will send them back into bondage, in Assyria or elsewhere, equal to or worse than that of Egypt. Some literally and actually went to Egypt, and found a grave there.
Hired lovers.
Israel excited the displeasure of Jehovah by not merely renouncing confidence in him, but by placing confidence in foreign nations and strange gods. And Israel aggravated the offence by rejecting the aid which her covenant God would readily and gratuitously have bestowed, and by expending her treasure in purchasing from neighboring nations assistance which proved to be vain and unprofitable. Her conduct is compared to that of an adulteress, so wanton as to purchase with her husband"s money the affection and embraces of a stranger.
I IT IS THE INFATUATION OF SIN TO FORSAKE THE FREE AND UNDESERVED FAVOR OF GOD. The folly of such a course is apparent to all whose minds are not under the influence of prejudice and passion. When the fountain of living waters is accessible, how wretched is the self-delusion of those who turn away from it!
II THIS INFATUATION IS STILL MORE APPARENT WHEN IT LEADS SINNERS TO TRUST TO VAIN REFUGES. The cisterns which are sought when the fountain is forsaken are broken cisterns, which can hold no water. Such was the powerlessness, the insufficiency of the gods and the kings whom Israel sought. And in that they represent the men, the systems, the societies, the pursuits, which sinners are ever wont to exalt to the seat of God.
III TILE INFATUATION OF SINNERS LEADS THEM TO PART WITH EVERYTHING IN ORDER TO OBTAIN NOTHING. Israel spent her treasure, drained her resources; and for what? Only to endure the bitterest humiliation, the most cruel disappointment. There was none, in the day of her sorrow, that could help, deliver, or comfort her none! And this was all she obtained for her apostasy. The lovers, the friends, whom she "hired" were unfaithful and unhelpful. So is it with all who put their confidence in men and in princes. Men give up character and friends, a good conscience, a bright hope; they part with all, and what do they receive in return? The pleasures of sin for a season; but very soon weariness, disappointment, and misery. And "the end of these things is death. 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 A wild ass alone by himself.
Hos_8:9
A wild ass alone by himself.
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The Scripture figure of the wild ass
What a figure of the untamed soul which refuses the easy yoke of the blessed Redeemer. Mans untamed spirit spurns the adorable Lords love. You cannot conceive a truer picture of the altogether untractable than this. The wild ass will go its own way. But this is according to nature. What we are Called to contemplate is the fallen being man, described as a wild ass alone by itself. Ephraim and the Ten Tribes are compared to the wild ass for many reasons.
1. They refused Christs easy yoke; their hearts were untamed; they were stubborn in their rejection of Gods inviting grace; they were full of obdurate folly; they were headstrong and unruly, not consenting to any restraints; they chose their own course, running up and down after sin, mad upon their idols, as the wild ass traverses the desert only to gratify its own low nature.
2. The wild ass is excessively swift; and although numbers of them commonly herd together, yet it is usual for some one of them to break away and separate himself from his company, and run alone or at random by himself. It is when he thus breaks away that he is such an easy prey to the lion. Ephraim, in seeking to be all for himself, became the more sure prey of the devourer; and whenever the sinner breaks away by himself, thinking thereby to be masterless and free, he is in a fair way of being left to his own devices and given up by God.
3. The wild ass is the lions prey in the wilderness, and the soul faithless to Christ, seeking its own things, is as a wild ass alone by himself, or for himself, for his own gratification, his own pleasure, and the end of these things is death. (Alfred Clayton Thiselton.)
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_8:9. Assy-] to gain friendship and alliance. Wild ass]…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hos_8:9. Assy-] to gain friendship and alliance. Wild ass] A comparison which shows their folly, not as a paramour burning in lust, but heady, obstinate, and undisciplined; outstripping the swiftest horse in pursuit of lust, hunger, and thirst. “Whilst even a wild ass, that stupid animal, keeps by itself, to maintain its independence, Ephraim tries to form unnatural alliances with the nations of the world, that is to say, alliances that are quite incompatible with its vocation” [Keil].
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Hos_8:10. Hired] by presents. Gather] them among the nations. Now] They shall not go as suppliants, but captives; the nations will oppress and not help them (Eze_16:37). Sorrow] (not, as margin, begin). A little] The greater judgment, the deportation, suspended. Burden] Tribute imposed on Israel (2Ki_15:19-20).
HOMILETICS
THE FOLLY OF WORLDLY ALLIANCE.—Hos_8:9-10
A fourth sin is laid to the charge of Israel in seeking aid from Assyrians. This sin is reproved by two similitudes—a wild ass loving its freedom, and a harlot suing for paramours. It is folly to seek help in civil defection and religious apostasy.
I. The alliance is unnatural.
1. It is against the habits of nature. The wild ass, taken in its love for solitude, or its headstrong perversity in pursuing its lust, reproves this conduct. Israel was a holy people, separated from others for a special purpose, and intended to be the people of God. “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” God’s people should never mix up with worldly men. Their name and their nature should separate them from sin. They stand upon a moral elevation; to trust to worldly alliance and hire foreign aid is to sacrifice their principles and degrade their nature; to acknowledge the superiority of the world, and sink themselves below their true position. The sympathies and aspirations of the new man are with God and not the world. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
2. It reserves the customs of men. “Ephraim hath hired lovers.” The ordinary way is for lovers to hire her (Eze_16:33-34). When Churches are deserted, and professors are forsaken by God, they often go further wrong than others, more bent on wickedness than ordinary transgressors. What folly to purchase the aid of an enemy! what value is that affection which can only be enlisted by gold and hire? The world should be taught to admire the Church as a wise and understanding people; but when they despise their own dignity, they pay dearly for the alliance of “the nations.” “The contrary is in thee from other women, in thy whoredoms, whereas more followeth thee to commit whoredoms; and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.”
II. The alliance is unfaithful. As a man should cleave to his wife, so Israel should cling to God. But how loathing and immodest to forsake God, to whom we are bound by marriage covenant, and tempt and hire other lovers! Such was the baseness of Judah, and such the unfaithfulness of many now. When God likens the idolatry of his ancient people to adultery and harlotry, the Christian Church of the present age should take the warning and remain faithful to God.
III. The alliance is destructive. “Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them.” The sin of Israel brought its own punishment. They sought to secure themselves by hired kings, sent presents to them and made leagues with them against God’s will: but their policy deceived them. God would gather those very nations, not to help, but to destroy Israel. When nations rely on hired levies, and Churches have recourse to ungodly powers, to save from anticipated judgments, God in just retribution makes these very powers the instruments of his purpose. Providing for their own glory and safety makes them easier prey to their enemies. There is no security but in God himself. “I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_8:9. A wild ass typical of the sinner.
1. In its disregard for its owner. “Neither regardeth be the crying of the driver” (Job_39:8).
2. In its obstinate course. It is most unruly and stubborn, intense in its thirst and swift in its pursuit. Self-will, frowardness, and intractableness the complaints against Israel. Men now throw off God’s yoke, seek to be free and uncontrolled, to pursue their folly without restraint. “The heart of man is fully set in them to do evil.”
3. In its constant danger. “The wild ass is the lion’s prey in the wilderness” (Sir_13:19). Men who rush from God are exposed to danger from themselves and others in time and in eternity. Apart from grace, man after his hard and impenitent heart treasures up wrath against the day of wrath” (Rom_2:5).
Hos_8:10. Sin and sorrow. “Now will I gather them,” &c.
1. The beginning of sin is the beginning of sorrow. Men do not believe this. It may be contrary to their experience and observation, but the fact is declared in God’s word, and written in our moral nature and constitution. Now “they shall sorrow a little.”
2. The end of sin will be the greatest sorrow. Israel sorrowed “a little” under the bondage and heavy taxes of Assyria, but their future punishment was the greater calamity. Now sorrow is a little, a drop before the storm, hereafter it will be a tempest. God suspends the greatest judgments to prove his compassion for men, give time for repentance, and opportunity to return to him. Here only we have “the beginning of sorrows;” what then will be the end “of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8
Hos_8:9. Love—
Our passions are seducers; but of all,
The strongest love. He first approaches us
In childish play, wantoning in our walks;
If heedlessly we wander after him,
As he will pick out all the dancing way,
We’re lost, and hardly to return again. [Southey.]
Hos_8:10-11. Sin increased. Sin is like a stone which is cast into water, and multiplies itself by infinite circles [Basil]. All sin and wickedness in man’s spirit hath the central force and energy of hell in it, and is perpetually pressing down towards it as towards its own place. The devilish nature is always within the central attractions of hell, and its own weight instigates and accelerates its motion thither [John Smith].
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:9 Like a wild donkey: Hosea compared Israel’s worship…
8:9 Like a wild donkey: Hosea compared Israel’s worship of the Canaanite fertility gods to an animal in heat that was desperate to mate (see Jer 2:23-24).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.