Hosea 10:8 Komentář

In this chapter, I. The people of Israel are charged with gross corruptions in the worship of God and are threatened with the destruction of their images and altars (Hos 10:1, Hos 10:2, Hos 10:5, Hos 10:6, Hos 10:8). II. They are charged with corruptions in the administration of the civil government and are threatened with the ruin of that (Hos 10:3, Hos 10:4, Hos 10:7). III. They are charged with imitating the sins of their fathers, and with security in their own sins, and are threatened with smarting humbling judgments (Hos 10:9-11). IV. They are earnestly invited to repent and reform, and are threatened with ruin if they did not (Hos 10:12-15).

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 10 This chapter is of the same argument with the former, and others before that; setting forth the sins of the ten tribes, and threatening them with the judgments of God for them; and exhorting them to repentance, and works of righteousness. They are charged with unfruitfulness and ingratitude; increasing in idolatry, as they increased in temporal good things, Hos 10:1; with a divided heart, and with irreverence of God, and their king; and with false swearing, covenant breaking, and injustice, Hos 10:2; and are threatened with a removal of their king, and with the destruction of their idols, and places of idolatry, which should cause fear in the common people, and mourning among the priests, Hos 10:1. It is observed, that their sin had been of long continuance, though the Lord had been kind and good unto them, in chastising them in love, giving them good laws, sending his prophets to exhort them to repentance and reformation, but all in vain, Hos 10:9; wherefore they are threatened with the spoiling of their fortresses, the destruction of the people, and the cutting off of their king, Hos 10:14.

The high places also of Aven,.... Bethel, which is not only as before called Bethaven, the house of iniquity; but Aven, iniquity itself; the high places of it were the temple and altars built there for idolatrous service, which were usually set on hills and mountains: the sin of Israel shall be destroyed; that is, which high places are the sin of Israel, the occasion of sin unto them; and where they committed sin, the sin of idolatry, in worshipping the calves; these should be thrown down, demolished, and no longer used: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; lying in ruins, these shall grow upon them, the people and priests being carried captive that used to sacrifice upon them; but now they shall lie deserted by them, being destroyed by the enemy: and they shall say to the mountains, cover us; and to the hills, fall on us; not that the high places and altars shall say so in a figurative sense, according to R. Moses in Aben Ezra; but, as Japhet, they that worshipped there, the priests and people of Samaria, Bethaven, and even of all Israel, because of their great distress; and, as persons in the utmost consternation, and in despair, and confounded, and ashamed, shall call to the mountains and hills where they have been guilty of idolatry to hide and cover them from the wrath of God; see Luk 23:30 Rev 6:16.

And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. [Hosea 10:8] For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

"He made his king pass like foam over the face of the water of Samaria, and the high places of idols shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel." LXX: "He has cast out his king from Samaria as a brand on the face of the water, and the altars will be removed." For "foam," which the LXX and Theodotion translated as φρύγανον, that is, "brand," Symmachus has placed ἐπίζεμα, wanting to show the upper waters of boiling water, and the foam and bubbles rising, which the Greeks call πομφόλυγας. Therefore, just as spume over the water dissolves quickly, so the kingdom of the ten tribes will quickly end, and the lofty places, that is, Bamoth, will perish, of which it is written: "Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places" (3 Kings 22:44). But these lofty places are idols, or Aven, that is, idols, which are interpreted as "useless," which is a useless idol and a sin for Israel. But when the idol and its lofty places are dispersed.

This chapter treats of the same subject, but elegantly varied. It begins with comparing Israel to a fruitful vine but corrupted by too much prosperity, Hos 10:1. It next reproves and threatens them for their idolatry, Hos 10:2; anarchy, Hos 10:3; and breach of covenant, Hos 10:4. Their idolatry is then enlarged on; and its fatal consequences declared in terms full of sublimity and pathos, Hos 10:5-8. God is now introduced complaining of their excessive guilt; and threatening them with captivity in terms that bear a manifest allusion to their favourite idolatry, the worshiping the similitude of a calf or heifer, Hos 10:9-11. Upon which the prophet, in a beautiful allegory suggested by the preceding metaphors, exhorts them to repentance; and warns them of the dreadful consequences of their evil courses, if obstinately persisted in, Hos 10:12-15.

The high-places - Idol temples. Of Aven - Beth-aven. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars - Owing to the uncultivated and unfrequented state of the land, and of their places of idol worship, the people being all carried away into captivity. "And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, And to the hills, Fall on us." "This sublime description of fear and distress our Lord had in view, Luk 23:30, which may be a reference, and not a quotation. However, the Septuagint, in the Codex Alexandrinus, has the same order of words as occurs in the evangelist. The parallelism makes the passages more beautiful than Rev 6:16; and Isa 2:19 wants the animated dramatic form. That there is a reference to the caverns that abounded in the mountainous countries of Palestine, see the note on Isa 2:19 (note)." - Newcome.

ISRAEL'S IDOLATRY, THE SOURCE OF PERJURIES AND UNLAWFUL LEAGUES, SOON DESTINED TO BE THE RUIN OF THE STATE, THEIR KING AND THEIR IMAGES BEING ABOUT TO BE CARRIED OFF; A JUST CHASTISEMENT, THE REAPING CORRESPONDING TO THE SOWING. (Hos 10:1-15) The prophecy was uttered between Shalmaneser's first and second invasions of Israel. Compare Hos 10:14; also Hos 10:6, referring to Hoshea's calling So of Egypt to his aid; also Hos 10:4, Hos 10:13. empty--stripped of its fruits [CALVIN], (Nah 2:2); compelled to pay tribute to Pul (Kg2 15:20). MAURER translates, "A widespreading vine"; so the Septuagint. Compare Gen 49:22; Psa 80:9-11; Eze 17:6. bringeth forth fruit unto himself--not unto ME. according to . . . multitude of . . . fruit . . . increased . . . altars--In proportion to the abundance of their prosperity, which called for fruit unto God (compare Rom 6:22), was the abundance of their idolatry (Hos 8:4, Hos 8:11).

Aven--that is, Beth-aven. the sin--that is, the occasion of sin (Deu 9:21; Kg1 12:30). they shall say to . . . mountains, Cover us--So terrible shall be the calamity, that men shall prefer death to life (Luk 23:30; Rev 6:16; Rev 9:6). Those very hills on which were their idolatrous altars (one source of their confidence, as their "king," Hos 10:7, was the other), so far from helping them, shall be called on by them to overwhelm them.

In a fresh turn the concluding thought of the last strophe (Hos 9:10) is resumed, and the guilt and punishment of Israel still more fully described in two sections, Hos 10:1-8 and Hos 10:9-15. Hos 10:1. "Israel is a running vine; it set fruit for itself: the more of its fruit, the more altars did it prepare; the better its land, the better pillars did they make. Hos 10:2. Smooth was their heart, ow will they atone. He will break in pieces their altars, desolate their pillars. Hos 10:3. Yea, now will they say, No king to us! for we feared not Jehovah; and the king, what shall he do to us?" Under the figure of a vine running luxuriantly, which did indeed set some good fruit, but bore no sound ripe grapes, the prophet describes Israel as a glorious plantation of God Himself, which did not answer the expectations of its Creator. The figure is simply sketched in a few bold lines. We have an explanatory parallel in Psa 80:9-12. The participle bōqēq does not mean "empty" or "emptying out" here; for this does not suit the next clause, according to which the fruit was set, but from the primary meaning of bâqaq, to pour out, pouring itself out, overflowing, i.e., running luxuriantly. It has the same meaning, therefore, as ג סרחת in Eze 17:6, that which extends its branches far and wide, that is to say, grows most vigorously. The next sentence, "it set fruit," still belongs to the figure; but in the third sentence the figure passes over into a literal prophecy. According to the abundance of its fruit, Israel made many altars; and in proportion to the goodness of its land, it made better מצּבות, Baal's pillars (see at Kg1 14:23); i.e., as Israel multiplied, and under the blessing of God attained to prosperity, wealth, and power in the good land (Exo 3:8), it forgot its God, and fell more and more into idolatry (cf. Hos 2:10; Hos 8:4, Hos 8:11). The reason of all this was, that their heart was smooth, i.e., dissimulating, not sincerely devoted to the Lord, inasmuch as, under the appearance of devotedness to God, they still clung to idols (for the fact, see Kg2 17:9). The word châlâq, to be smooth, was mostly applied by a Hebrew to the tongue, lip, mouth, throat, and speech (Psa 5:10; Psa 12:3; Psa 55:22; Pro 5:3), and not to the heart. But in Eze 12:24 we read of smooth, i.e., deceitful prophesying; and there is all the more reason for retaining the meaning "smooth" here, that the rendering "their heart is divided," which is supported by the ancient versions, cannot be grammatically defended. For châlâq is not used in kal in an intransitive sense; and the active rendering, "He (i.e., God) has divided their heart" (Hitzig), gives an unscriptural thought. They will now atone for this, for God will destroy their altars and pillars. ערף, "to break the neck of the altars," is a bold expression, applied to the destruction of the altars by breaking off the horns (compare Amo 3:14). Then will the people see and be compelled to confess that it has no longer a king, because it has not feared the Lord, since the king who has been set up in opposition to the will of the Lord (Hos 8:4) cannot bring either help or deliverance (Eze 13:10). עשׂה, to do, i.e., to help or be of use to a person (cf. Ecc 2:2).