Hosea 10:10 Kommentar

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.

It is in my desire that I should chastise them,.... Or, "bind them" (a), and carry them captive; and by so doing correct them for their sins they have so long continued in: this the Lord had in his heart to do, and was determined upon it, and would do it with pleasure, for the glorifying of his justice, since they had so long and so much abused his clemency and goodness: and the people shall be gathered against them; the Assyrians, who, at the command of the Lord, would come and invade their land, besiege their city, and take it, and bind them, and carry them captive: when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows; when, like heifers untamed, and bound in a yoke to plough, do not make and keep in one furrow, but turn out to the right or left, and make cross furrows; so it is intimated that this was the reason why the Lord would correct Israel, and suffer the nations to gather together against them, and carry them captive, because they did not plough in one furrow, or keep in the true and pure worship of God; but made two furrows, worshipping partly God, and partly idols: or, "when they", their enemies, "shall bind them", being gathered against them, and carry them captive, they shall make them plough in "two furrows", the one up, and the other down; and to this hard service they shall keep them continually. There is a double reading of this clause; the "Cetib", or textual writing or reading, is, "to their two eyes", or "fountains": alluding, as Jarchi observes, to the binding of the yoke on oxen on each side of their eyes: or to the fountains in the land of Israel, the abundance of wine, milk, and honey; for the sake of which the people got together, broke in upon them, and bound them, in order to drink of. So Gussetius (b) renders the words, "and they shall bind them to drink of their fountains". The "Keri" or marginal reading is, "their two iniquities"; which the Septuagint follows, rendering it, "in chastising them, or when they are chastised for their two iniquities;'' so the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; meaning either their worshipping the two calves at Dan and Bethel; or their corporeal and spiritual adultery; or their forsaking the true God, and worshipping idols; see Jer 2:13. Schmidt understands all this, not as a punishment threatened, but as an instance of the love of God to them, in chastising them in a loving and fatherly way; which had a good effect upon them, and brought them to repentance; partly in the times of the judges, but more especially in the days of Samuel, when they behaved well; and particularly in the reigns of David and Solomon; and when the people were gathered, not "against", but "to" them; either became proselytes to them, or tributaries, or coveted their friendship; and when they themselves lived in great concord, in one kingdom, under one king, like oxen ploughing in two contiguous furrows. (a) "et, vel ut vinciam eos", Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Grotius; "colligabo eos", Cocceius. (b) Comment. Ebr. p. 591, 892.

"Israel sinned from the days of Gabaa: there they stood. They will not be caught at Gabaa in battle against the sons of iniquity. According to my desire, I will rebuke them: when the peoples are gathered together against them and will be corrected over their two iniquities." LXX: "Since Israel sinned on the hills, there they stood; they were not captured in battle on the hills against the sons of lawlessness. He came to rebuke them, and the peoples will be gathered against them when they are rebuked for their two iniquities." From the day when Benjamin in the city of Gabaa shamefully and cruelly killed the wife of the Levite, all Israel sinned against me (Judges 19): not because he avenged the injury and crime with blood, but because of his marital grief he rushed into battle, and did not want to avenge the sacrilege against his God, because in Micah's house they neglected the ephod and teraphim which were worshiped as idols. Therefore, Israel stood here, where he restrained his step, lest he should walk any longer in the paths of the Lord: for this reason he will not overtake them on account of the battle of Gabaa, or of captivity, as they themselves suppose; for it was well done by them to pursue the sons of iniquity there; but I will rebuke them, saith the Lord, and will instruct them with the whole desire of my heart, and will gather together against them the multitude of peoples, because they have done two iniquities: they have avenged man, and neglected the injury done to their God. Either two iniquities: firstly, they sinned in Michae's idols, secondly, in Jeroboam's calves. Or certainly two calves of Samaria in Dan and Bethel, we can call two iniquities, about which also Jeremiah speaks: "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:13). These two iniquities went against two precepts of the Decalogue, in which it is said: "I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:2-3). The Septuagint interpreted "Gabaa, hills" as: In the days of the hills, Israel sinned, when it deserted the mountains of the Church and went down to the hills or cliffs of the heretics, thinking itself more learned than the Church and having discovered something more sublime. "There they stood," that is, they persevered in error. Some interpret what follows, "He will not apprehend them in the hill battle," in this way: because they begot children of iniquity and, departing from the Church, began to be on the hills, when persecution comes, the battle will not apprehend them, since the devil does not want to attack his own. Some say: Since Israel has sinned on the hills, and he stood there and was not able to walk anymore, should he not be caught in the hills from battle? Should not ecclesiastical men fight against him, to destroy them over the sons of iniquity? If they are caught and defeated, they will no longer be able to reproduce. At the same time, the Lord promises that he will rebuke them and that, when they are defeated as masters, their disciples will gather against them, whom they had previously deceived, and see correction for two injustices: because they left the Church, the source of the Lord, and dug broken cisterns for themselves, namely the caves of heretics, which cannot hold water, that is, the doctrine of the Savior and the sacrament of baptism.

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.

When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows - "When they are chastised for their two iniquities," i.e., the calves in Dan and Beth-el. - Newcome. But this double iniquity may refer to what Jeremiah says, Jer 11:13 : "My people have committed two evils." - 1. They have forsaken me. 2. They have joined themselves to idols.

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).

my desire . . . chastise--expressing God's strong inclination to vindicate His justice against sin, as being the infinitely holy God (Deu 28:63). the people--Foreign invaders "shall be gathered against them." when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows--image from two oxen ploughing together side by side, in two contiguous furrows: so the Israelites shall join themselves, to unite their powers against all dangers, but it will not save them from My destroying them [CALVIN]. Their "two furrows" may refer to their two places of setting up the calves, their ground of confidence, Dan and Beth-el; or, the two divisions of the nation, Israel and Judah, "in their two furrows," that is, in their respective two places of habitation; Hos 10:11, which specifies the two, favors this view. HENDERSON prefers the Keri (Hebrew Margin) "for their two iniquities"; and translates, "when they are bound" in captivity. English Version is best, as the image is carried out in Hos 10:11; only it is perhaps better to translate, "the people (the invaders) binding them," that is, making them captives; and so Hos 10:11 alludes to the yoke being put on the neck of Ephraim and Judah.

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).