Osea 6:5 Commento

The closing words of the foregoing chapter gave us some hopes that God and his Israel, notwithstanding their sins and his wrath, might yet be happily brought together again, that they would seek him and he would be found of them; now this chapter carries that matter further, and some join the beginning of this chapter with the end of that, "They will seek me early," saying, "Come and let us return." But God doth again complain of the wickedness of this people; for, though some did repent and reform, the greater part continued obstinate. Observe, I. Their resolution to return to God, and the comforts wherewith they encourage themselves in their return (Hos 6:1-3). II. The instability of many of them in their professions and promises of repentance, and the severe course which God therefore took with them (Hos 6:4, Hos 6:5). III. The covenant God made with them, and his expectations from them (Hos 6:6); their violation of that covenant and frustrating those expectations (Hos 6:7-11).

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 6 This chapter gives an account of some who were truly penitent, and stirred up one another to return to the Lord, encouraged by his power, grace, and goodness, Hos 6:1; and of others, who had only a form of religion, were very unstable in it; regarded more the ceremonial law, and the external sacrifices of it, than the moral law; either that part of it which respects the love of the neighbour, or that which concerns the knowledge of God; and dealt treacherously with the Lord, transgressing the covenant, Hos 6:4; particularly the city of Gilead is represented as full of the workers of iniquity, and is charged with bloodshed, Hos 6:8; yea, even the priests were guilty of murder and lewdness, Hos 6:9; and Israel, or the ten tribes in general, are accused of whoredom, both corporeal and spiritual, with which they were defiled, Hos 6:10; nor was Judah clear of these crimes, and therefore a reckoning day is set for them, Hos 6:11.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth,.... Sharply reproved them for their sins by the prophets, who were as lapidaries that cut stone, or us hewers of timber that cut off the knotty parts; so these by preaching the terrors of the law, which is a killing letter, and by delivering out the threatenings of the Lord, and denouncing his judgments upon them for their sins, cut them to the heart, and killed them; for their foretelling and prophesying of their being slain, ruined, and destroyed, was a slaying of them; see Jer 1:10. The Targum is, "because I admonished them by the message of my prophets, and they returned not, I will bring upon them those that slay, because they have transgressed the word of my will.'' But the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and so Aben Ezra and Joseph Kimchi, understand these words, not of hewing, and cutting, and slaying of the people by the prophets, but of the cutting and slaying the prophets themselves, and read the words, "therefore have I cut off the prophets, and slain them &c.", either the false prophets, some of them that caused the people to err, that they might not repent, as Aben Ezra; as the prophets of Baal in the times of Elijah, and the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's time, who were in the way of the people's repentance, reformation, and reception of Christ; these he cut off, and their doctrine, and condemned by his own, and the doctrine of his apostles, the words of the Lord's mouth; see Zac 11:8; and this he did for the good of his people, in answer to the question put by himself in Hos 6:4; so Schmidt interprets it: or else the true prophets of God, who were exposed to death, to be cut off and slain, for the messages they were sent with: or those messages were such as were killing to them to carry them, and deliver them; and they were so constantly employed, early and late, in such service, that for the work of the Lord they were often nigh unto death: but our version, and the sense agreeable to it, scent best; and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth; that is, their judgments, the people's, a sudden change of person: meaning either the statutes and judgments prescribed them by the Lord, and to be observed by them; which were clear and plain as the light at noon day, and therefore could not plead any excuse of ignorance of them, that they did not observe them: or the judgments of God upon them for their sins; which were open and manifest to all, and increasing like the light, more and more, and no more to be resisted than that; and the righteousness of God in them was very conspicuous; his judgments were manifest, and the justice of them. Some understand this of the judgments or righteousnesses of the saints, both imputed and inherent, Rom 5:16; which appear light and clear, the darkness of pharisaism being removed by Christ. The Targum is, "my judgment goes forth as the light.''

"What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? Your mercy is like the morning clouds and like the dew that goes away early: therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light." LXX: "What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? Your mercy is like a morning cloud, and like dew that passes away early: therefore I have hewed your prophets, I have killed them with the words of my mouth, and your judgment shall come forth like the light." When He says, 'What shall I do to thee, Ephraim? What shall I do to thee, Juda?,' He shows the affection of a parent for his lost children, according to what we read in Isaiah: 'What is there that I ought to have done more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it?' (Isaiah 5:4) And in Micah: "My people, what have I done to you, or how have I caused trouble to you? Answer me; because I brought you out of the land of Egypt, I freed you from the house of slaves, and I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before your face" (Micah 6:2, 4). Therefore, what shall I do to you, Ephraim, what shall I do to you, Judah? Your mercy, with which I have always shown mercy to you, has passed like the morning clouds, and like the morning dew that dries up when the sun rises. For now captivity is near, I already see you being led captive into the Assyrians and chained to the Babylonians. I grieved for you in the prophets and threatened you with terrible words; I brandished a scalpel, fire and branding irons, so that you who despised my clemency might fear my offence, and I might kill the careless with the words of my mouth, punishing sinners beforehand with the terror of words before captivity should approach. And I did all this so that the truth of the judgement by which I am about to judge you might be made manifest and that no one might doubt that you have suffered what you have deserved. For what it is, 'I have grieved for the prophets,' the Seventy translated, 'I have cut down your prophets,' understanding that they had killed false prophets themselves, to the Lord: so that those who were the cause of error, promising prosperity, would be killed and turned into an opportunity for salvation. And the sense is: Lest you should say, we believed in the prophets, even we killed them: so that every occasion of sin might be taken away from you. We read in the book of Kings that 450 prophets of Baal were killed under Elijah (3 Kings xviii), and another innumerable multitude under Jehu (4 Kings x), who overthrew the house of Ahab. We believe that the same things were said both to heretics and to the true man Judas, who was about to suffer similar things, so that the Lord may provoke them to mercy, and may desire to return to salvation. But those men who pursue the delights and refreshments of this world like a cloud and dew that quickly pass away, of whom it is said in the Gospel: "Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" (Luke 12:20). And that richly adorned man, who despised Lazarus lying before his doors (Luke 16), knew that all that he had enjoyed had passed away like a cloud or a dewdrop. But God always destroys the prophets of the heretics, while He threatens them with eternal punishments, takes away true life from them, and abandons them to the death of their crimes. However, let us love that cloud which is eternal, and which protects us from the heat of this world, under which sitting the Lord came into Egypt, and broke all the idols of the Egyptians. Let us love that dew about which Moses speaks: "Let my doctrine drop as the rain" (Deut. XXXII, 2). And about which Isaiah says: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead" (Isai. XXVI, 19, sec. LXX). There are some who think that the prophets who were truly slain (("Al." holy men)) were given up to the enemies because of the sin of the people.

The prophet earnestly exhorts to repentance, Hos 6:1-3. God is then introduced as very tenderly and pathetically remonstrating against the backslidings of Ephraim and Judah, Hos 6:4-11.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets - I have sent my prophets to testify against their fickleness. They have smitten them with the most solemn and awful threatenings; they have, as it were, slain them by the words of my mouth. But to what purpose? Thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth - Instead of ומשפטיך אור יצא umispateycha or yetse, "and thy judgments a light that goeth forth," the versions in general have read ומשפטי כאור umishpati keor, "and my judgment is as the light." The final כ caph in the common reading has by mistake been taken from אור aur, and joined to משפטי mishpati; and thus turned it from the singular to the plural number, with the postfix כ cha. The proper reading is, most probably, "And my judgment is as the light going forth." It shall be both evident and swift; alluding both to the velocity and splendour of light.

THE ISRAELITES' EXHORTATION TO ONE ANOTHER TO SEEK THE LORD. (Hos 6:1-11) At Hos 6:4 a new discourse, complaining of them, begins; for Hos 6:1-3 evidently belong to Hos 5:15, and form the happy termination of Israel's punishment: primarily, the return from Babylon; ultimately, the return from their present long dispersion. Hos 6:8 perhaps refers to the murder of Pekahiah; the discourse cannot be later than Pekah's reign, for it was under it that Gilead was carried into captivity (Kg2 15:29). let us return--in order that God who has "returned to His place" may return to us (Hos 5:15). torn, and . . . heal-- (Deu 32:39; Jer 30:17). They ascribe their punishment not to fortune, or man, but to God, and acknowledge that none (not the Assyrian, as they once vainly thought, Hos 5:13) but God can heal their wound. They are at the same time persuaded of the mercy of God, which persuasion is the starting-point of true repentance, and without which men would not seek, but hate and flee from God. Though our wound be severe, it is not past hope of recovery; there is room for grace, and a hope of pardon. He hath smitten us, but not so badly that He cannot heal us (Psa 130:4).

I hewed them by the prophets--that is, I announced by the prophets that they should be hewn asunder, like trees of the forest. God identifies His act with that of His prophets; the word being His instrument for executing His will (Jer 1:10; Eze 43:3). by . . . words of my mouth-- (Isa 11:4; Jer 23:29; Heb 4:12). thy judgments--the judgments which I will inflict on thee, Ephraim and Judah (Hos 6:4). So "thy judgments," that is, those inflicted on thee (Zep 3:15). are as the light, &c.--like the light, palpable to the eyes of all, as coming from God, the punisher of sin. HENDERSON translates, "lightning" (compare Job 37:3, Margin; Job 35:15).

"Therefore have I hewn by the prophets, slain them by the words of my mouth: and my judgment goeth forth as light." ‛Al-kēn, therefore, because your love vanishes again and again, God must perpetually punish. חצב ב does not mean to strike in among the prophets (Hitzig, after the lxx, Syr., and others); but ב is instrumental, as in Isa 10:15, and châtsabh signifies to hew, not merely to hew off, but to hew out or carve. The nebhı̄'ı̄m cannot be false prophets, on account of the parallel "by the words of my mouth," but must be the true prophets. Through them God had hewed or carved the nation, or, as Jerome and Luther render it, dolavi, i.e., worked it like a piece of hard wood, in other words, had tried to improve it, and shape it into a holy nation, answering to its true calling. "Slain by the words of my mouth," which the prophets had spoken; i.e., not merely caused death and destruction to be proclaimed to them, but suspended judgment and death over them - as, for example, by Elijah - since there dwells in the word of God the power to kill and to make alive (compare Isa 11:4; Isa 49:2). The last clause, according to the Masoretic pointing and division of the words, does not yield any appropriate meaning. משׁפּטיך could only be the judgments inflicted upon the nation; but neither the singular suffix ך for כם (Isa 10:4), nor אור יצא, with the singular verb under the כ simil. omitted before אור, suits this explanation. For אור יצא cannot mean "to go forth to the light;" nor can אור stand for לאור. We must therefore regard the reading expressed by the ancient versions, (Note: The Vulgate in some of the ancient mss has also judicium meum, instead of the judicia tua of the Sixtina. See Kennicott, Diss. gener. ed. Bruns. p. 55ff.) viz., משׁפּטי כאור ציצא, "my judgment goeth forth like light," as the original one. My penal judgment went forth like the light (the sun); i.e., the judgment inflicted upon the sinners was so obvious, so conspicuous (clear as the sun), that every one ought to have observed it and laid it to heart (cf. Zep 3:5). The Masoretic division of the words probably arose simply from an unsuitable reminiscence of Psa 37:6.