Osea 3:4 Commento

God is still by the prophet inculcating the same thing upon this careless people, and much in the same manner as before, by a type or sign, that of the dealings of a husband with an adulterous wife. In this chapter we have, I. The bad character which the people of Israel now had; they were, as is said of the Athenians (Act 17:16), "wholly given to idolatry," (Hos 3:1). II. The low condition which they should be reduced to by their captivity, and the other instances of God's controversy with them (Hos 3:2-4). III. The blessed reformation that should at length be wrought upon them in the latter days (Hos 3:5).

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 3 In this chapter is an order to the prophet to love an adulterous woman beloved of her friend, and by this parable to express the love of God to Israel, and their ingratitude to him, Hos 3:1, the prophet's execution of that order, making a purchase of her, and a covenant with her, which set forth the captive, servile, mean, and abject state of that people, Hos 3:2, which is explained of their being deprived for a long time of civil and ecclesiastic government, Hos 3:4, and the chapter is concluded with a prophecy and promise of their conversion to Christ in the latter day, Hos 3:5.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince,.... Without any form of civil government, either regal or without any civil magistrate, either superior or subordinate, of their own; being subject to the kings and princes of other nations, as the ten tribes were from their captivity by Shalmaneser, to the coming of Christ, which was about seven hundred years; and from that time the tribes of Judah and Benjamin have had no kings and princes among them, for the space of nineteen hundred years, which may very well be called "many days". This answers to the harlot's abiding for the prophet many days, in the parable: and without a sacrifice; the daily sacrifice, which has ceased as long as before observed; and any other sacrifice of slain beasts, as the passover lamb, &c.; the Jews not thinking it lawful to offer sacrifice in a strange land, or any where but upon the altar in Jerusalem; and to this day have no such sacrifices among them, though they have no notion of the abrogation of them, as the Christians have; but so it is ordered in Providence, that they should be without them, being kept out of their own land, that this and other prophecies might be fulfilled: and without an image, or "statue": such as were made for Baal, or as were the calves at Dan and Bethel; and though the people of Israel were very subject to idolatry, and set up images and statues for worship before their captivities, yet since have nothing of image worship among them, but strictly observe the command. And without an ephod; a linen garment wore by the high priests under the law, to which the breastplate was fastened, which had in it the Urim and Thummim; and which were wanting in the second temple, and have been ever since; so that these people have been so long without this way and means of inquiry of God about future things, see Ezr 2:63, this may be put for the whole priesthood, now ceased in a proper sense; and so the Septuagint render it, "without a priesthood"; so that the Jews are without any form of government, civil or ecclesiastical; they have neither princely nor priestly power: "and without teraphim"; which some understand to be the same with the Urim and Thummim; and so the Septuagint render it, "without manifestations"; by which they are thought to mean the Urim, which according to them so signifies: but the word is generally thought to design some little images or idols, like the penates or household gods of the Romans, which were consulted about future things; and so the Jews commonly understand it, and some describe them thus (g), "what are the "teraphim?" they slay the firstborn of a man, cut off his head, and pickle it with salt and oil, and inscribe on a plate of gold the name of an unclean spirit, and put that under his tongue; then they place it in a wall, and light candles before it, and pray unto it, and it talks with them.'' But now, according to this prophecy, the Jews in their captivity should have no way and means of knowing future things, either in a lawful or unlawful manner; see Psa 74:9. How the whole of this prophecy is now fulfilled in them, hear what they themselves say, particularly Kimchi; "these are the days of the captivity in which we now are at this day; we have no king nor prince out of Israel; for we are in the power of the nations, and of their kings and princes; and have no sacrifice for God, nor image for idols; no "ephod" for God, that declares future things; and no "teraphim" for idolatry, which show things to come, according to the mind of those that believe in them;'' and so Jarchi "without a sacrifice in the sanctuary in Judah; without an image of Baal in Samaria, for the kings of Israel; without an ephod of Urim and Thummim, that declares hidden things; and "teraphim" made for a time to speak of, and show things that are secret;'' and to the same purpose Aben Ezra. The Targum is, "without a king of the house of David, and without a ruler over Israel; without sacrifice for acceptance in Jerusalem; and without a high place in Samaria; and without an ephod, and him that shows;'' i.e. what shall come to pass. The Syriac version renders the last clause, "without one that offers incense"; and the Arabic version, "without one that teaches". (g) Pirke Eliezer, c. 36. fol. 40. 1.

I ask, therefore, on what day the heavenly manna began to be given. I wish to compare our Lord’s day with the sabbath of the Jews. For the divine Scriptures it appears that manna was first given on earth on the Lord’s day. For if, as Scripture says, it was gathered for six consecutive days, but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, it was stopped, without doubt it began on the first day, which is the Lord’s day. But if it is plain from divine Scriptures that on the Lord’s day God rained manna and on the sabbath he did not, let the Jews understand that already at that time our Lord’s day was preferred to the Jewish sabbath. Even then it was revealed that on their own sabbath no grace of God descended to them from the sky; no bread of heaven, which is the Word of God, came to them. For a prophet also says elsewhere, “The sons of Israel will sit for many days without a king, without a prince, without a prophet, without a victim, without a sacrifice, without a priest.” On our Lord’s day, however, the Lord always rains manna from the sky.

For the prophecy was fulfilled that had declared, “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king and prince. There shall be no victim, nor altar, nor priesthood, nor answers.” These testimonies, accordingly, we employ against those who presume to assert that what is spoken in Genesis by Jacob refers to Judah. They say that there still remains a prince of the race of Judah—he, namely, who is the prince of their nation, whom they style patriarch—and that there cannot fail [a ruler] of his seed, who will remain until the advent of that Christ whom they picture themselves. But if the prophet’s words are true when he says, “The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without prince; and there shall be no victim, nor altar, nor priesthood,” and if, certainly, since the overthrow of the temple, victims are neither offered, nor any altar found, nor any priesthood exists. So it is most certain that, as it is written, princes have departed from Judah and a leader from between his thighs, until the coming of him for whom it has been reserved. It is established, then, that he has indeed come from whom it has been reserved and in whom is the expectation of the Gentiles. And this manifestly seems to be fulfilled in the multitude of those who have believed in God through Christ out of the different nations.

"For many days the children of Israel shall sit without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an altar, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. And after these things the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king: and they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." LXX: "For many days the children of Israel shall sit without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, without an altar, without priesthood, without manifestations" (which in Greek are called δήλοι). "And after this the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king: and they shall be astonished at the Lord, and at his goodness in the latter days." For "ephod" and "teraphim" the Septuagint have translated "sacerdotium," meaning "priesthood," and "manifestations." However, it should be known, as we have frequently said, that "ephod" signifies a priestly garment, which is called in the LXX by the word βαθύπεταλον, meaning "superhumeral," and by Aquila it is called ἐπένδυμα, meaning "outer garment." But "teraphim" properly denote μορφώματα, that is "figures" and "images," which we can, for the present place only, call "Cherubim" and "Seraphim," or any others which were commanded to be made for the decoration of the temple. But because the seventy have translated the clear things, for which Aquila translated (introduced) enlightenments. And these indeed are the (meanings) in the "Rational" account, that is, we understand that in the heart and mind of the bishop, truth and enlightenments, that is, "truth" ought to be, as well as "doctrine": so that he may not only know the correct faith but also be able to utter what he knows. Which Apostle Paul also writes to Titus, teaching what kind of bishop ought to be ordained: "For a bishop must be without crime as the dispenser of God, not proud, not irritable, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy for filthy lucre: But hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy, continent, embracing him who is according to the "sound doctrine, faithful in speech, so he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to contradict those who oppose it" (Titus 1: 7-9). We read of the ephod and theraphim in the book of Judges (Chapters 17 and 18), which the Levites made for themselves; later on, they departed with 600 armed men from the tribe of Dan. From the passion of the Savior until the present day, a little over 400 years have elapsed, and as for how much time remains until the day of judgment, neither the angels nor the Son know. He says that he doesn't know for this reason, because it is not beneficial for us to learn. These are indeed many days on which the unfortunate Synagogue and adulterous woman are fed with barley, and sits contracted, because she cannot stand with Christ. Without a king, of whom the Father said: "I have raised up a king with justice" (Isa. XLV, 13). And He himself says in the Psalm: "But I am appointed king by him over his holy mount Zion" (Psal. II, 6). Without a prince, either the Lord and Savior Himself, or certainly a pontiff, of whom it is written: "Thou shalt not revile the princes of thy people." (Exod. XXII). And without sacrifice, and without altar. For with the temple overthrown, and Jerusalem burned, neither sacrifice nor Judaic priesthood can exercise. And without ephod and without teraphim, that is, the instruments of the priestly habit. Concerning this king and Jacob in the blessing of Judah the patriarch speaks: "The leader shall not fail from Juda, nor the ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations." (Gen. XLIX, 10) Therefore, after the prince of Judah had fallen, and the leader from his thigh, and Herod, a foreigner and proselyte, had taken over the empire, we understand that someone has come to whom the kingdom was entrusted, and he himself was the expectation of the nations. This is the blindness that happened in part to Israel, so that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter, and then all Israel would be saved (Romans 11): and later they will return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, who was born from David's lineage and interprets "strong by hand." For he himself freed his captive people and gave remission to the prisoners. And when the children of Israel shall see him that was rejected by his own brethren reigning in the majesty of his Father and his own, they shall fear and marvel at the Lord and at his good things. For the good son is born of a good father, whether to the good things of the Lord spoken of by the saint: "I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps. 26:13): for the earth in which we dwell, sinners, is the land of the dead. The present chapter, among others of the Jews, is interpreted concerning the Babylonian captivity, when the temple was desolate for seventy years, and there was no altar, sacrifice, or priesthood, but afterwards they returned to their former seats under Zorobabel. Others, like us, delay for the future time ("they abandon" "Al.") and they cannot find any other cause of such a great offense that they have been abandoned for such a long time, especially since they do not worship idols, except for the killing of the Savior.

The prophecy in this chapter is thought by some to relate to the latter times of the world, when God shall finally deliver his people from all their adversaries; and it must be confessed that the figures employed are so lofty as to render it impossible to restrain the whole of their import to any events prior to the commencement of the Christian era. The whole prophecy is delivered in a very beautiful strain of poetry; by what particular events are referred to is at present very uncertain, vv. 1-21.

Many days without a king - Hitherto this prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Since the destruction of the temple by the Romans they have neither had king nor prince, nor any civil government of their own, but have lived in different nations of the earth as mere exiles. They have neither priests nor sacrifices nor urim nor thummim; no prophet, no oracle, no communication of any kind from God. Without an image ephod - teraphim - The Septuagint read, Ουδε ουσης θυσιας, ουδε οντος θυσιαστηριου, ουδε ἱερατειας, ουδε δηλων: "Without a sacrifice, without an altar, without a priesthood, and without oracles;" that is, the urim and thummim. The Vulgate, Arabic, and Syriac read nearly the same. Instead of מצבה matstsebah, an image, they have evidently read מזבח mizbeach, an altar; the letters of these words being very similar, and easily mistaken for each other. But instead of either, one, if not two, of Kennicott's MSS. has מנחה minchah, an oblation. What is called image may signify any kind of pillar, such as God forbade them to erect Lev 26:1, lest it should be an incitement to idolatry. The ephod was the high priest's garment of ceremony; the teraphim were some kind of amulets, telesms, or idolatrous images; the urim and thummim belonged to the breastplate, which was attached to the ephod. Instead of teraphim some would read seraphim, changing the ת tau into ש sin; these are an order of the celestial hierarchy. In short, all the time that the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon, they seem to have been as wholly without forms of idolatrous worship as they were without the worship of God; and this may be what the prophet designs: they were totally without any kind of public worship, whether true or false. As well without images and teraphim, as they were without sacrifice and ephod, though still idolaters in their hearts. They were in a state of the most miserable darkness, which was to continue many days; and it has continued now nearly eighteen hundred years, and must continue yet longer, till they acknowledge him as their Savior whom they crucified as a blasphemer.

ISRAEL'S CONDITION IN THEIR PRESENT DISPERSION, SUBSEQUENT TO THEIR RETURN FROM BABYLON, SYMBOLIZED. (Hos 3:1-5) The prophet is to take back his wife, though unfaithful, as foretold in Hos 1:2. He purchases her from her paramour, stipulating she should wait for a long period before she should be restored to her conjugal rights. So Israel is to live for a long period without her ancient rites of religion, and yet be free from idolatry; then at last she shall acknowledge Messiah, and know Jehovah's goodness restored to her. Go yet--"Go again," referring to Hos 1:2 [HENDERSON]. a woman--purposely indefinite, for thy wife, to express the separation in which Hosea had lived from Gomer for her unfaithfulness. beloved of her friend--used for "her husband," on account of the estrangement between them. She was still beloved of her husband, though an adulteress; just as God still loved Israel, though idolatrous (Jer 3:20). Hosea is told, not as in Hos 1:2, "take a wife," but "love" her, that is, renew thy conjugal kindness to her. who look to other gods--that is, have done so heretofore, but henceforth (from the return from Babylon) shall do so no more (Hos 3:4). flagons of wine--rather, pressed cakes of dried grapes, such as were offered to idols (Jer 7:18) [MAURER].

The long period here foretold was to be one in which Israel should have no civil polity, king, or prince, no sacrifice to Jehovah, and yet no idol, or false god, no ephod, or teraphim. Exactly describing their state for the last nineteen centuries, separate from idols, yet without any legal sacrifice to Jehovah, whom they profess to worship, and without being acknowledged by Him as His Church. So KIMCHI, a Jew, explains it. The ephod was worn by the high priest above the tunic and robe. It consisted of two finely wrought pieces which hung down, the one in front over the breast, the other on the back, to the middle of the thigh; joined on the shoulders by golden clasps set in onyx stones with the names of the twelve tribes, and fastened round the waist by a girdle (Exo 28:6-12). The common ephod worn by the lower priests, Levites, and any person performing sacred rites, was of linen (Sa2 6:14; Ch1 15:27). In the breast were the Urim and Thummim by which God gave responses to the Hebrews. The latter was one of the five things which the second temple lacked, and which the first had. It, as representing the divinely constituted priesthood, is opposed to the idolatrous "teraphim," as "sacrifice" (to Jehovah) is to "an (idolatrous) image." "Abide" answers to "thou shalt abide for me" (Hos 3:3). Abide in solitary isolation, as a separated wife. The teraphim were tutelary household gods, in the shape of human busts, cut off at the waist (as the root of the Hebrew word implies) [MAURER], (Gen 31:19, Gen 31:30-35). They were supposed to give responses to consulters (Kg2 23:24; Eze 21:21, Margin; Zac 10:2). Saul's daughter, Michal, putting one in a bed, as if it were David, proves the shape to have been that of a man.

The Adulteress and Her Fresh Marriage - Hos 3:1-5 "The significant pair are introduced again, but with a fresh application." In a second symbolical marriage, the prophet sets forth the faithful, but for that very reason chastising and reforming, love of the Lord to rebellious and adulterous Israel. By the command of God he takes a wife, who lives in continued adultery, notwithstanding his faithful love, and places her in a position in which she is obliged to renounce her lovers, that he may thus lead her to return. Hos 3:1-3 contain the symbolical action; Hos 3:4, Hos 3:5 the explanation, with an announcement of the reformation which this proceeding is intended to effect.

"For the sons of Israel will sit for many days without a king, and without a prince, and without slain-offering, and without monument, and without ephod and teraphim." The explanation of the figure is introduced with כּי, because it contains the ground of the symbolical action. The objects, which are to be taken away from the Israelites, form three pairs, although only the last two are formally connected together by the omission of אין before תּרפים, so as to form one pair, whilst the rest are simply arranged one after another by the repetition of אין before every one. As king and prince go together, so also do slain-offering and memorial. King and prince are the upholders of civil government; whilst slain-offering and memorial represent the nation's worship and religion. מצּבה, monument, is connected with idolatrous worship. The "monuments" were consecrated to Baal (Exo 23:24), and the erection of them was for that reason prohibited even in the law (Lev 26:1; Deu 16:22 : see at Kg1 14:23); but they were widely spread in the kingdom of Israel (Kg2 3:2; Kg2 10:26-28; Kg2 17:10), and they were also erected in Judah under idolatrous kings (Kg1 14:23; Kg2 18:4; Kg2 23:14; Ch2 14:2; Ch2 31:1). The ephod and teraphim did indeed form part of the apparatus of worship, but they are also specially mentioned as media employed in searching into the future. The ephod, the shoulder-dress of the high priest, to which the Urim and Thummim were attached, was the medium through which Jehovah communicated His revelations to the people, and was used for the purpose of asking the will of God (Sa1 23:9; Sa1 30:7); and for the same purpose it was imitated in an idolatrous manner (Jdg 17:5; Jdg 18:5). The teraphim were Penates, which were worshipped as the givers of earthly prosperity, and also as oracular deities who revealed future events (see my Bibl. Archol. 90). The prophet mentions objects connected with both the worship of Jehovah and that of idols, because they were both mixed together in Israel, and for the purpose of showing to the people that the Lord would take away both the Jehovah-worship and also the worship of idols, along with the independent civil government. With the removal of the monarchy (see at Hos 1:4), or the dissolution of the kingdom, not only was the Jehovah-worship abolished, but an end was also put to the idolatry of the nation, since the people discovered the worthlessness of the idols from the fact that, when the judgment burst upon them, they could grant no deliverance; and notwithstanding the circumstance that, when carried into exile, they were transported into the midst of the idolaters, the distress and misery into which they were then plunged filled them with abhorrence of idolatry (see at Hos 2:7). This threat was fulfilled in the history of the ten tribes, when they were carried away with the Assyrian captivity, in which they continue for the most part to the present day without a monarchy, without Jehovah-worship, and without a priesthood. For it is evident that by Israel the ten tribes are intended, not only from the close connection between this prophecy and Hos 1:1-11, where Israel is expressly distinguished from Judah (Hos 1:7), but also from the prospect held out in Hos 3:5, that the sons of Israel will return to David their king, which clearly points to the falling away of the ten tribes from the house of David. At the same time, as the carrying away of Judah also is presupposed in Hos 1:7, Hos 1:11, and therefore what is said of Israel is transferred implicite to Judah, we must not restrict the threat contained in this verse to the Israel of the ten tribes alone, but must also understand it as referring to the Babylonian and Roman exile of the Jews, just as in the time of king Asa (Ch2 15:2-4). The prophet Azariah predicted this to the kingdom of Judah in a manner which furnishes an unmistakeably support to Hosea's prophecy.